Rikku's Wish
by DeLyse
Summary: Rikku finds herself having to save Yuna as though it was a full-time job. Meanwhile, the Legendary Guardian makes a random appearance at the strangest time, forcing her to re-evaluate long-hidden feelings for him. Can she rely on him to help her when they need it most? Will Auron ever get to rest in peace? [An adventure/mystery with a dash of romance - Aurikku/Tuna]
1. Alexander vs Celsius

_(Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this fanfic...including the one who's compensating.)_

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**Chapter 1: Alexander vs. Celsius**

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"Give it," Rikku growled, her demanding tone no louder than a whisper.

"Mmm… E tuh'd drehg cu!" (I don't think so!) brother replied with a superior air, doing one of his really weird, squiggly stances.

"I said, give it _here_," Rikku repeated a bit louder. She shoved her gloved hand in his face, wriggling her fingers vigorously. She wasn't playing around.

"Hud ihdem oui cyo oui'na cunno!" (Not until you say you're sorry!) brother insisted in his loud, half pubescent, annoyingly pitched voice.

"Give…it…NOW," she now roared, pouncing at him with her fingers outstretched like claws. She swiped at him in midair, but missed as Brother narrowly dodged the attack. He knew right then that he had two options. One, he could give the dress sphere back to her, or two, he could run. Under any normal circumstances, the tall, tattooed, misunderstood Al Bhed pilot would avoid a heavy beating and give whatever it was that he took back. But this time, it was serious. This time, his little sister had crossed a line that no little sister should ever, EVER cross.

"_Get back here!_" Rikku screamed, charging after a fleeing Brother. For a tall, awkwardly build person, he was actually pretty fast, but his sibling was faster. The two raced down the hallway of the ship in full sprint. Rikku knew that Brother would try to get to the elevator to escape, but he would not be able to with her so close behind. For the moment, that's all that poor Brother could think about – getting into the safety of that elevator lift. He was never one to think two steps ahead in any situation.

Once at the doors to the elevator, Brother began to rapidly punch the Door button on the side, but was rammed in the back by the body of raging Rikku just as the doors cracked open to reveal someone inside. Within moments, Brother and Rikku where nothing but arms, legs, and cries of pain, all rumpled together in a dust cloud on the floor before the elevator doors. They did not even notice the legs of Buddy calmly walking over them with an amused arch in his brow.

Finally, Brother laid the winning blow, leaving Rikku down for the count. He ran into the elevator and pushed the button to close the doors and go up. 5…4… The doors were just beginning to close as Rikku unsteadily rose to her feet. 3…2… Brother laughed triumphantly and began to mock her.

1…

In a flash, Rikku grabbed Brother's extended hand as he made fun of her and jerked him forward, causing his head to thump loudly against the partially closed doors, as well as his arm to be crushed by the force of the elevator's mechanics working to close the door on him.

He howled and jerked back, allowing the door to close shut, and continued to howl all the way up to the Bridge of the ship. Rikku waited impatiently for the lift to make its way back down to her so that she could hop on and continue her chase. Her hair was a mess now, with one braid hanging annoyingly in her face and a few beads knocked out of her blonde locks. She smacked the braid away in irritation as she boarded the elevator. "You're gonna get it, you big meanie… You are _sooooo_ going to get it…"

The doors opened to reveal a hallway that lead to a little balcony with short stairs on either side to reach the Bridge of the enormous airship, the Celsius. She darted down the hall, ignored the little stairs on the sides, and hopped right over the railing, landing with a tiny pat onto the gray metal floor, and glared around the room for any sign of Brother. Her dull green swirls met the figure of an awkward man hunched strangely over the navigation sphere, peering back ever so often to see if she was looking. When she began to charge over to him with something akin to murder in her eyes, he whimpered girlishly and turned around to face her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cid, their father, asked curtly. He was standing beside Brother, staring directly at him, his finger almost at the boy's chest.

"Fryd, E tu hudrehk!" (What, I do nothing!) the tattooed young man stammered, throwing his hands up in defense. It was ridiculously obvious to see the small bulge in the front of his pants now, and that seemed to be what Cid was referring to, as he still said nothing and waited for an answer, no matter how stupid it would be, to come from Brother's denying mouth.

"Eew! That's my dress sphere!" Rikku cried, partly disgusted, partly defeated. She stomped at the floor, trying to keep herself from pulling her hair out by balling her fists at her sides.

Cid slapped his hand to his forehead loudly and growled. _Of all the children I could have had, I had to get the two clinically insane ones…_ A small, bright red light flashed over the hand on his forehead from the navigation sphere. He missed what had happened, as he was too busy trying to figure out why the hell he even wanted to have children, but his eye caught the change of light over his eyelids. He lowered his hand and squinted at the grid in the sphere. Again, a red light flashed over his face, only this time it was not a soft, innocent interruption. Cid's skin turned ghastly white in color, and his pupils dilated almost immediately as he stared down at the panel.

It took a few moments for his brain to register commands and use them accordingly. Above the sounds of Rikku's whining and Brother's complaining, Cid suddenly bellowed as loudly and as clearly as possible, "EVASIVE MANUVERS!"

The entire atmosphere had lost not just sound, but a sense of time, as well. Rikku's cries suddenly melted into a slight whimper of confusion melded with worry. Brother had ceased squirming around in his wormy way to become as limp as a dead fish. Even Shinra, the boy genius, whom was so quiet that no one even knew he was sitting in his usual spot, working away, turned now to face Cid and utter the one word that was on everyone's tongue. "…What?"

Cid clapped Brother on the shoulder to push him toward his station in the middle of the two other pilot control panels and started motioning for Rikku to stop being a frozen muskrat and start helping, all the while answering Shinra's question. "What do you mean, _what?_ We're under attack! DO something! And if you don't have anything to do, just invent something – I really don't care!"

Even though Brother was weird, wimpy, and very much unattractive, there was one thing that he was so good at that no one aboard the Celsius could ever top him, and that was piloting a ship. Usually, Buddy did most of the work to his left, as Brother liked to be lazy and daydream about being with the woman of his dreams, the only person to ever bring the Eternal Calm to Spira… But now was no time for dreams. He locked himself in, set his hands on the controls, and began to work.

Where Brother was good at using machina, Rikku was good at fixing machina or taking it apart properly. When it came to piloting a ship, she knew nothing except that when you're about to die in one, pull the lever that says "eject" on it. While Shinra used his comm spheres attached to the bow and stern of the ship to get an idea of what was going on outside the Celsius, Cid recalled orders and Brother followed, gliding the enormous boat easily through the air. Rikku did the only thing she knew how do to in situations like these – she ran to the navigation panel to pretend she knew what she was doing. She had now forgotten all about the stolen dress sphere now.

The navigation panel was not completely difficult to understand. It was a big, blue sphere in the middle of the room, standing on top of a royal red colored plate that held a yellow phoenix logo on it. The sphere acted as a three dimensional grid of what was going on around them using an X, a Y, and a Z axis. Neon lines of brilliant, pink light ran through the floor all around the room, cutting through the middle and attaching to all of the navigation systems and panels, and of course, the nav sphere that Rikku now attempted to decipher. She squinted to see the tiny green dot in the middle of the grid – that was them – and circled around the sphere, waiting to see anything else.

"I got him," Shinra announced rather calmly for just a kid, but then again, he was more than what he would lead others to believe. Cid immediately hurried over to him and followed Shinra's pointing finger to a spot on one of the com sphere monitors, then grunted.

"What if they have weapons or something?" Rikku suddenly asked. She resembled a timid rabbit now huddled near the nav sphere, with droopy ears and big, worried eyes to match.

"Then we'll have to avoid them!" Cid said confidently.

"We should really get weapons, too!" the blonde girl replied sulking, turning back to the nav sphere to now see a tiny black dot in the very tip of the upper corner of the grid. "Oooh, oooh! I see something! Pops, I see something!" She was practically jumping up and down, pointing and Ooh-ing the whole time as Cid walked briskly to her. Indeed, the dot was there, and coming fast.

Rikku jumped back as Cid began shouting things to Brother and asking where Buddy was, while Shinra was also reading off information. She suddenly felt…useless. The one thing the little sneak hated was to feel useless. She felt that way around the Guardians many times before, all those years ago, despite what anyone (or herself) told her. All she could do was watch as the black dot came closer, and closer, and closer…until finally, you could hear its engines and spheres over exerting themselves and roaring with their last dying breaths right outside. It was like the people aboard whatever ship was after them was going to hit them, but whether it was on purpose, or because their ship's engines were failing, no one could tell.

She to the large, thick, clear windows at the bow of the airship, where there appeared to be nothing but deep, blue skies and great, white clouds below. But soon, as the roaring grew louder, something could just barely be seen coming from the eastern side of the Celsius. Rikku immediately recognized it as an old 342 MK 8 model airship, also known as an Alexander, but it looked as though it had not been taken care of since its making. From the looks of it, it wouldn't last long, either. The Celsius glided effortlessly upward to allow the old airship to pass by beneath them, but as soon as they had dipped up, the Alexander swerved upward on a course set directly for Cid's ship. Rikku could hear her father growling as he watched the other ship's actions.

"Hard right; dive at the last minute!" Cid ordered, and Brother nodded with a grunt of acknowledgment. Force would keep everyone's feet planted on the ground in case of the ship turning, but straps would be needed in case of a crash. Unfortunately, Cid never installed any, just as he never thought to put weapons on the Celsius, so everyone found something to hold on to and hoped that they wouldn't be knocked around like a rag doll. Rikku hopped into Buddy's seat just before the Alexander came within their area of safety, and Brother immediately went into a swirling bird dive, the entire airship croaking and groaning as it twirled like a graceful giant and began to fall down. The Alexander missed them by inches.

The entire crew watched in awe as the old, ragged Alexander passed by them, smoke billowing from behind it. The Celsius creaked and groaned, as though complaining, for it was not meant to be flown in circles and crazy spirals. Cid was the first to speak again, breaking the shock and tension in the air. "Okay… Shinra, do you still have those rocket suit things you were talking about?"

"You mean rocket propelled le-"

"-Good, go get two. Rikku, you're going with him."

"But why? What for?" she asked, tilting her head.

"That ship isn't going to last long, and who ever tried to hit us is in there – I wanna know why!" he demanded, the vein on the side of his head pulsing. "I don't care if you have to beat them senselessly, just bring some of them aboard so we can sort this ordeal."

"Why can't you do it?" Shinra asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice. "You're the boss. Shouldn't you be going with your landing party?"

"A captain goes down with his ship," Cid proudly exclaimed, puffing out his chest. "In case the ship does go down, I have to be here for it." When Shinra and Rikku only stared at him, he flashed them a sharp look of impatience. "Well, what're waitin' for?"

"Pops, I need my Thief dress sphere," Rikku complained, eyes glaring directly at Brother with venom so thick, it almost made him sick.

Cid was getting very angry very quickly. "We don't have time for this!" he cried out, pushing her and Shinra toward the steps to the hallway where the elevator doors waited at the end. "You can argue with your brother later – _Go!_"


	2. Unexpected Rescue

_(Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights and responsibilities for the characters in this fanfic.)_

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**Chapter 2 : Unexpected Rescue**

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Rikku and Shinra suited up quickly, making sure their head sets and comm spheres were charged and ready, and both seemed to be upset about the stolen dress sphere. Shinra did not trust his creation in the pants of a retard such as Brother, and Rikku would now have to fully disinfect and sterilize her dress sphere once she got it back. There were too many problems, and not enough time to go over any of them.

Finally, once the two were suited up and ready, they made their way to the very bottom of the airship, where the engine room purred, and opened the metal doors that would allow them to safely jump from the Celsius. Rikku stayed behind Shinra, as she knew he was always a bit anxious when it came to sky diving, so she made sure he jumped first. Finally, after nearly having to threaten him to jump, she dived right out and followed behind him.

The two were able to glide downward toward the Alexander, which was now wavering unsteadily, its nose tipped slightly down now. Thick, dark smoke clouded the air behind it, make it hard for the two divers to stay behind, and once they were close enough, Shinra activated his suit to levitate. Rikku really hadn't listened to him when he was explaining how to work the thing, so she just watched him now and copied him.

"Let's make our move," the boy said, swerving to the side of the loud ship.

The volume in Rikku's headset was loud, and even though Shinra had whispered in his monotone voice, the rumbling of his tone caused the inside of her ear to tickle. She giggled to herself, knowing that she should really be paying her attention to the ship and the members who could still be inside, but this was so much fun! They were flying effortlessly through the air as though it was merely water, and water was one thing she really knew how to swim through_. Maybe piloting isn't all that hard,_ she thought, following the Al Bhed child to hover over the of the great, blue Alexander. Being so close to the old ship was extremely dangerous, especially in its unstable nature and while it was in the air, but once Rikku was able to disable the lock on the outside (she never needed a dress sphere for that kind of stuff), the two were able to somewhat quietly make it inside.

Shinra shut the door behind them, and then there was sudden silence. They looked at each other immediately. "I will investigate the front," the boy whispered through the sphere-like receiver on his headset. "If you can get to the engine room, maybe you could buy us some time."

"You got it!" she whispered back, stifling the urge to giggle again from the headset's volume tickling her ear drums. Shinra saw the strange look on her face, but merely passed it off as being one of her many silly expressions that he would never be able to unravel the mystery behind. Part of the reason why he even volunteered to join the Gullwings a year ago was because of the mystery of girls verses the mysteries of mechanics and magic. Girls were harder to put together. Especially Rikku.

Rikku turned down the hall, the layout of the area only being just familiar enough to not get too lost. Getting to the engine room, however, would be cake, because no matter what model airship you fly, the engine room is always directly below and behind the bridge. When she found the stairs – no working elevator was found, if there even was an elevator in this one – she hurried down as silently as she could, sticking to dark corners and hugging the walls. The entire insides of the airship were a shame to even look at as an Al Bhed. It was dirty, unkempt, and nearly every spec of metal was corroding. It was almost depressing.

Still no sign of anyone as she made it to the engine room. The place looked as though it would explode any minute if she didn't hurry up. Carefully, she brought out a pack on her side, cursing the suit she was wearing for being so bulky that it made moving difficult for her, and withdrew a few tools. Getting to the bulk of the machinery was an obstacle all to its own, for there were boxes, crates, and trash laying everywhere on the ground. Rikku tried to be quiet and careful, but it wasn't exactly easy. She was, however, determined.

When she made it to the panel near the oxidizers, she nearly gasped. The panel itself was so old-school, with slightly bigger buttons than the ones on the Celsius and seemed a bit more confusing in terms of array and convenience. She was in love! With awe and lust set deeply within the swirls of her eyes, the teen carefully began to enter the easiest commands first, testing to see what parts of the engine were still working, and which ones were smoking.

"Shinra," she whispered through the headset beneath the helmet on her head, still tinkering and testing. "I wish you could see this… It's so _beautiful!_"

"Shh, not now Rikku!" he spat back, the volume hurting her ear this time instead of tickling it. She frowned, but another voice came through – Brother.

"Fryd ec ed, Rikku?" (What is it, Rikku?) he asked in his annoying tone of voice.

Normally, she would just ignore him and turn off all communications to make her point to him and to Cid that she was really angry about the whole dress sphere thing, but the excitement of being able to touch such an old piece of Al Bhed history was too much for her. It was an honor, a privilege, and if she did tell Brother about it, she would be rubbing it in his face, since he was not there to experience the joy and the awe.

"Drec yencreb," (This airship) she replied in a whisper of astonishment, "it's incredible!"

"Oooh, I want to see!" he cried so loud Rikku jumped at the sharpness.

Rikku was about to turn back to work, since time was becoming ever more short with every second she wasted talking to Brother, when out of the corner of her dull green swirls, she saw what almost looked like a boot. She did a double take. It _was_ a boot. And a foot was still in it. She placed down her tools, her attention now completely on discovering who was laying on the floor in the engine room, and leaned forward to get a better look over the crates where the foot was. A leg was attached to the foot in the boot. She leaned even farther forward, almost falling on her face, and saw that the body was female. A sharp, indescribable pain shot through her heart as the thought of seeing a headless body flashed in her mind, but she shook it off and gulped, deciding to lean in just a wee bit more…

When she saw the face of the body, she gasped.

It was Yuna.


	3. Brother, the Hero

_(Disclaimer: I do not own anything - that goes for every chapter here on out.)_

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Chapter Three  
Brother, the Hero

"Rikku, we need to leave now," Shinra said in his usual monotone voice, but the added hint of urgency was apparent there.

"Yunnie's here!" she cried back desperately, struggling to make her way over the crates and boxes in her way to get to her cousin.

"What?" Shinra seemed startled as he asked this, but he said no more as the voice of an anxious and frantic Brother burst through the ear piece.

"YUNA?! Where is Yuna? WHERE?!"

Before Rikku could even answer, the sound of a switch on Brother's end of the communication panel flipped, turning off all ties with Rikku and Shinra. The Al Bhed sighed heavily. She had no time for Brother's insane nonsense! She had to get Yuna out, and _fast_. Finally, she gave up on stealth and jumped loudly and a bit clumsily over the crates, landing unsteadily beside her cousin, and then knelt down to the ground. Yuna was not dead, but seemed to be unconscious. She was wearing a Besaid nightgown, meaning that she was abducted only last night. Rikku tried to shake her awake, but the limp, but breathing, girl before her gave no response to anything.

"Shinra, where are you?" Rikku said, now choosing to speak without whispering. She had already caused a ruckus jumping over the boxes, and right now she really didn't care about anything but getting Shinra, Yuna, and herself out and away from the Alexander. Though Rikku was strong for a girl, she could not pick her cousin up. The only dress spheres she had on her at the moment, all placed securely within her Scourgebane garment grid, were her Black Mage and Trainer dress spheres, and right in between them was where her Thief dress sphere had been before Brother waltzed over to the side of her bed and outright took it. He was never good at sneaking, but he knew how to grab stuff while everyone else was busy. That did not require any skill.

In any case, her dress spheres would not give her any strength, which she needed to carry Yuna, and even so, she would not be able to change between Black Mage and Trainer unless she popped one out and placed it near the other, but she had no time to fool around. Her cousin's life was in her hands. Quickly, Rikku used her Trainer dress sphere, and beneath the suit she was wearing, her clothing changed awkwardly and uncomfortably to a long, leather skirt, which bunched up at the crotch of the suit on the inside, and long sleeves that bunched up at her wrists where her gloves blocked them from pushing out. A strangely dressed monkey popped out of nowhere onto her shoulders, ready for instruction.

"Help me, Ghiki!" she commanded, grabbing onto Yuna's ankles and pulling, while the monkey went to where the unconscious young woman's head was and started pushing. It took a lot of effort, but the two were able to at least get her out from behind the boxes. Just as she neared the metal doors on the floor of the engine room, where escape would be easiest, a loud BANG caused her to stop and jump in surprise. Someone was outside below the airship. Had they discovered what was going on?

Suddenly, another loud bang, and the door nearly ripped off as it flew open. The figure of Brother, dressed in a yellow bikini top with a matching thong poking out of a tight, woodland-green, short skirt, complete with two cream colored arm sleeves, an orange scarf that yellowed at the frayed tips, two red daggers that were personally designed by Rikku, and a thick, blue head band around his head that accented his blond Mohawk. Rikku wanted to die.

"Brother saves Yuna!" he screeched, making a strange, squiggly hero stance, holding the daggers out like swords, then suddenly grabbed the unconscious girl from his sister and the monkey watching him with confusion, and jumped right back out of the airship.

For a long while, Rikku and Ghiki could only stand there, staring at the opening in the floor and allowing the fierce wind to blow all around them, almost knocking them over. But when Shinra suddenly appeared in the entrance of the engine room, she snapped back to.

"Rikku, we need to go!" he exclaimed, which make the girl feel odd now, because Shinra was never one to sound at all rushed or that excited unless he had just finished a new invention that he had been working on for months. He ran past her and dove into the hole in the floor, and behind him stopped two men, both Al Bhed, whom appeared to have been chasing the boy. When they suddenly looked at Rikku, and at the monkey beside her, they abruptly snarled and dove for them. Even though Rikku's brain was still having an extremely difficult time processing the events that had happened in the past ten seconds, her body still knew when to react in the face of danger, and she flipped back out of the way almost instantly.

"Go, Funky Monkey, go!" she cried out, and Ghiki the monkey immediately gouged one of the men coming for them to blind him, then performed Sneaky Ghiki on the other, causing a good bit of damage to the man's face and coming back to Rikku's arms with 67 gil taken in the process. Rikku then hugged him safely and securely to her chest and jumped from the great, old airship without another second to waste.

As she activated the controls and flew herself higher and away from the threateningly close waves of the roaring sea below her, she watched the Alexander fall down and finally crash into the water with a loud roar. It was so sad for her to watch such a magnificent piece of Al Bhed history sink into the bottom of the salty sea. No sense in thinking about it now, as she would be long gone by the time she would be able to have any money to start an excavation to get it back out of the water. The ship itself would most likely be a rusty lump of crap by staying down there that long anyway. But then again, the sea is where they found the Celsius.

Once she was up high enough to see the Celsius, she undid the dress sphere effect, causing the monkey to disappear, and placed the garment grid that held it back into her pocket. Now that her life was no longer in danger, she clearly remembered Brother wearing her Thief dress sphere. She was so angry about it now that she could not laugh at how ridiculous he looked. She wanted her Thief sphere back, and she wanted it back NOW.

When Rikku finally came aboard the Celsius and removed the suit, which Shinra immediately took from her to inspect for any possible damage that may have been caused to it, which was very probable, knowing her, she stormed her way to the living area of the airship, the Cabin quarters, where she knew Brother would be by Yuna's side.

"I will care for Yuna," Rikku's older brother was saying above her left side. She could just barely see the top floor and Brother's mohawk poking up as she passed by the hypello behind the bar on her right whom they called Barkeep. He was, surprisingly, a barkeeper. She made her way to the staircase in the back on the left, and hurried up it, skipping every other step, until she made it to the top where three of the beds were kept. On the one farthest from her, the one Yuna used to always sleep in when she was staying on the Celsius, Brother had set their cousin down. He was now hovering over her like a deranged yellow bird, still wearing Rikku's Thief dress sphere, obviously lost as to what he should to do help.

"You!" Rikku yelled out, making Brother jump in surprise. "Get away from Yunnie and GIVE ME BACK MY DRESS SPHERE!"

Brother nearly fell backward off of the top floor and down onto the bar, where Barkeep was now slowly gathering bottles, a bowl, and a few clean pieces of cloth to bring up for Yuna. Surprisingly, the tattooed Al Bhed would not budge. "No, Rikku," he said in English. "You hurt me, I hurt you!"

"I didn't do anything, you meanie!" she cried back, stomping forward.

"You take my…book!" He seemed very sincere in his accusation. He really did believe that she had taken something from him, but as to what it could be, she had no clue.

"What are you talking about?"

Brother seemed to have trouble saying what he wanted to say without using his native tongue, so he answered back in Al Bhed (also so that Barkeep would not overhear). "Oui cdumac so vyjuneda cfescied eccia uv dra Bikanel Pypac!" (You stole my favorite swimsuit issue of the Bikanel Babes!)

For two seconds, Rikku only stood there, staring at him emotionlessly. Then, in one loud outburst, she exploded into laughter, rolling around on the floor and holding her stomach. Brother looked completely confused and embarrassed now, his eyes darting every which way. "The Bikanel Babes!" Rikku cried out, roaring with laughter once more and slapping the ground with her palm to emphasize her enthusiasm.

"It is no funny!" Brother yelled back, his mouth becoming a sad pout. It was hard to feel bad for him when he was still wearing the Thief dress sphere.

Rikku was able to get enough of a breath to explain that she did not take anything. "I wonder what was in it that made you so embarrassed!" she continued, still laughing. "Ooh, I bet they got it goin' on funky monkey style in the centerfold!"

And that is what Yuna had the pleasure of waking up to.

Slowly, groggily, the ex-summoner opened her right eye, the green one, and then the blue one beside it, blinking softly as they both tried to adjust to the light in the room. She heard noises – first a loud one, followed by little ones of the same type… It took her a while to realize it was laughter that burst through her dreams and broke the bridge leading to unconsciousness. When she tried to move her fingers, they felt stiff and numb, as though she had been dead up until this point, and only a twitch was she able to muster as far as movement.

Brother was the first to see Yuna's twitching finger. He instantly forgot about his sister's mocking words and rushed to the young woman on the bed. As Yuna's eyes made their way to his face, he grabbed and squeezed her hand. She could just barely feel it. Then, a second face came to her other side. Rikku. Her long, blonde hair was almost touching the tip of Yuna's nose now as she leaned over to see her cousin's eyes opened and awake finally.

"Oh Yunnie, you're okay!" the Al Bhed girl said with a great sigh of relief. She plopped herself onto Yuna in a tight hug, causing the ex-summoner to laugh slightly.

"What…what's going on?" she asked as Rikku leaned back up again. "Why am I…here?"

"You were kidnappeded!" Brother exclaimed, "But I rescue you!" He stretched his arms apart, ready to embrace Yuna in a hug as his sister had done, but Rikku shot her arms out and pushed him back while shaking her head.

"You…saved me?" Yuna's voice sounded so dry and cracked when she spoke. She didn't even raise her arms up to accept the hug given to her, and now Rikku was beginning to piece everything together.

"Do you feel really dehydrated, Yunnie?" Rikku searched through a bag on her side as Yuna nodded. "And you can't move?" Again, Yuna nodded.

"I will help move you," Brother offered, once more bringing his arms down to place around her, but he was again countered by his sister.

"They paralyzed you," Rikku replied, a vial of dark green liquid in her hand. Both she and Yuna immediately recognized it as a remedy. After popping the top off and allowing Brother to set Yuna up in a sitting position, as long as he wasn't going to be weird, Rikku carefully let the liquid pour into her cousin's mouth without spilling too much on her.

The effects of the cure worked almost instantly. A warm rush passed through her body, from the tip of her brown haired head, down to her pink painted toenails, and she regained full use of her body now. After thanking Rikku and Brother, she was able to sit up on her own, and did so.

"Last night, I was sleeping," she explained softly as the hypello, Barkeep, made it to the top of the stairs to hand Rikku the supplies he had come with. He stood by Brother to listen to what she had to say, while the little Al Bhed girl dipped one of the clean rags into a bowl of warm water and placed it snuggly above Yuna's brow. "Vidina – he's getting so big now – came to me in the middle of the night and told me that he kept hearing strange sounds. He was afraid… I let him lie down beside me so that he would go back to sleep, but once I started to drift back to sleep again, I started to hear sounds outside, too. Rustling and moving…

"I looked outside, but it was too dark to see anything. Then I remember, as I was going back inside, someone grabbed me from behind and put his hand over my mouth…" Yuna looked as though she was about to cry as she relived and retold what had happened, but she kept going anyway. "Another person came to help him, also… I don't remember much after that. But I do think I started to wake up a few times after that, because I kept hearing loud noises…"

"You were stuffed in the engine room when I came on board with Shinra," Rikku replied in sympathy, just as Brother immediately cut in.

"And I saved Yuna!" he added to the end, puffing out his chest. Yuna laughed softly, but Rikku put her fists to her hips in suspicion.

"Brother," she said, eyes narrowed on him, "how exactly did you get to the Alexander without anything to bring you to us?"

Brother's eyes lit up, which, to Rikku, meant that he was about to say something stupid. "With my Love," he replied, placing both hands over his heart in an exaggerated pose. Yuna was about to smile at both of them, when she noticed his attire…

"Um… Brother?"

"Yes, Yuna!" he replied eagerly, clasping his hands together.

"…Why are you wearing Rikku's Thief clothes?"

Brother cried out and jumped up in embarrassment, flew over the edge of the room onto the first floor, almost smashing into the bar stools on his way down, and fled the Cabin in a scream as Rikku began to explain. "Well, Brother has a collection of naughty magazines," she said, suppressing a grin, "and he thought that I took one, so he stole my dress sphere and wouldn't give it back, then used it to 'save you' when I mentioned that I had found you on the old airship!"

"…Airship…" Yuna suddenly gazed off into the distance. "I was on an airship…? Is that what you meant when you said I was in an engine room? Is that what 'Alexander' is?"

Rikku nodded vigorously to all three of her questions. "Yeah, but we got you outta there before it crashed!" Rikku added swiftly before the thought could leave her mind, "Maybe you should stay with us for a while until we can figure out what happened? I mean, it would be safer… And you can tell Tidus and Wakka and Lulu and Vidina that you're okay through our com spheres!" Rikku could only imagine how Tidus would react to this news.

Yuna placed a finger to her chin in personal reflection as the hypello, whom had remained respectfully silent the entire time, finally stepped up beside her humbly. "Mish Yoona, what can I do for yoo?"

And then, Yuna laughed. Rikku joined her, because it was fun to see her cousin again, and laughing at that. "Oh, Barkeep – you don't know how much I have missed those words!" Yuna replied sincerely. After a moment more of thought, she finally looked back to Rikku with a nod. "I think I will stay for a while, but not too long. I want to know why…why I was taken from Besaid in the middle of the night… I want to know what's going on."

"Ish Yoona shtaying?" Barkeep asked aloud, and when both of the girls before him nodded, he clapped slowly. "Thish ish good!"

"C'mon, Yunnie – let's go surprise Pops! Er, well, let's get you something to wear, first."

* * *

_**A/N**: This'll be the only author note in the whole story. First off, wow - this story is old! I wrote it back in 2oo8 over the course of one month. Although, I'm not particularly proud of this story, I am proud of the fact that it is the only story, fanfiction or otherwise, I've ever finished. I can't believe I did it all in a month! That's crazy. Then again, I do crazy. =]_

_Anyway, I just wanted to give a big shout out to those whom followed this story until the end. I also wanted to say that over the span of the next few months, I'll be publishing the polished chapters of this story as time wears on. I really wanna get every chapter up, so I at least have one story on my stories page that's complete from beginning to end! If you're an old reader, I apologize for all the updates you're going to receive on this story. At the time I took down most all of the chapters, fanfiction didn't have the option to "update/replace" a chapter. So yeah, all those emails you're about to get saying a new chapter has been posted, just ignore. Sorry about that!_

_If you're a new reader, welcome! I hope you enjoy this crazy story, or even better, browse my other ones - you can literally read in the words how much I've improved my writing skills if you compare this story to a newer one. The best part? You never stop improving, so long as you stick with it, which means I should be pretty well-to-do by the time I'm 90. =]_

_Long live Aurikku!_


	4. Like Yuna

**Chapter 4 – Like Yuna**

After borrowing a pair of Rikku's clothes, which wasn't hard as they both were pretty much the same size, Yuna and her cousin made it down to the Bridge, where Cid greeted her happily (as happily as Cid can greet anyone, which is kind of difficult for him). After going over the story of what had happened the night before with the crew of the Celsius, she took a break from them to try and reach Tidus, Wakka and Lulu via com sphere. Rikku seemed to be the most restless about the entire situation, of course. _Who were those people, and why did they abduct Yuna? Why were they trying to hit us when we tried to avoid them? What was causing the airship to break down in midflight?_ There were just so many questions for her, and she almost couldn't sort them.

"Yuna said they were men, but she didn't really see who they were," Cid whispered to Buddy, recalling what his niece had told them. The two were on the other side of the Bridge, away from Shinra's com sphere network and Yuna, discussing the puzzle and trying their best to piece it together. They really didn't have much to go on. "Why would they take her? This doesn't make any sense…"

"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Rikku cried with a pout as she pushed in between the two. "I want to figure this out, too."

"We really don't know much," Buddy said, sighing a bit. He lifted his goggles above his brow and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Well, she said they were men, like you said Pops. And when I was on the ship I saw two men chasing after Shinra. They were Al Bhed, too." Rikku stood her ground as she spoke. She would not be the one to be butted out. She was the girl with all the answers. She just didn't know quite how to get the answers before the questions were asked, is all. But she could help, and that was all that mattered.

"They were Al Bhed?" Cid repeated. When she nodded to confirm it, he sighed in a gruff sort of way. "Why didn't you tell us this before?"

"Well, I'm telling you now!" Rikku argued back. "Besides, it wasn't anyone we know."

"What else do you know that you're not telling?" Buddy chimed.

Rikku crossed her arms in defiance. She was seventeen now, almost eighteen – pretty much an adult. She didn't have to stand for this. "I'm not hiding anything. The only person hiding anything around here is Brother, and he's being a _major_ meanie about it."

Suddenly, Cid and Buddy both settled and put their hands in their pockets or looked the other way, as though they weren't even talking, and Rikku knew why. Yuna was approaching them. Rikku felt a light, warm hand on her left shoulder, and so she turned, deciding that she would be the one to not turn away.

"Would you like to see Vidina?" she asked. She had that look on her face that she sometimes got when she saw something so unbearably cute that it made her squeeze up in a fluffy ball.

"Sure!" Rikku replied, leaving the two men behind so that they could continue their conversations that would never get them anywhere. Seeing babies coo and giggle was cuter than watching your father and the other pilot standing there and being boring.

Shinra sat in his chair in front of the screen, which blocked the two girls' view of the monitor. When Rikku came up beside him to see the screen, she nearly fell over in exasperation. "Ooooh, he's so cute!" she cried out, balling up her hands and bringing them to her chest, as if to keep herself from trying to leap through the monitor and into Besaid.

On the other side of the screen, the proud father was holding his son in front of the com sphere. They were both grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, Rikku! You never drop by anymore, ya?" Vidina seemed almost too full of energy for Wakka to hold.

"I know," she replied apologetically without looking at him. The past year had been extremely busy for her. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. She looked back up to the screen to see Vidina's hand hovering at her, as though he was trying to reach through the monitor and touch her, so she held her hand out to him, as well, grinning wide. "Look at how big he's gotten! It was like yesterday that we went to see him and he was just born, all bundled up and sleepy!"

Wakka laughed proudly. "He _is _big, ya?" After a few moments of Rikku playing with the screen, and the ten-month-old on the other side imitating her somewhat shyly, Wakka suddenly leaned in close to the screen, as though to speak only to her. "So you don't know what's going on with Yuna being taken in the middle of the night?" he asked in low tones. Rikku suspected that he merely didn't wish for Lulu to hear what he was saying.

"No," Rikku replied curtly. She was hesitant to tell him that they were Al Bhed, as he used to have a problem with her kind a few years ago. Though, she felt she could trust him, she still had that old, nagging little voice telling her to keep quiet. "But don't worry," she added quickly before anyone could notice the tensed expression on her face. "We'll get to the bottom of it. We weren't successful sphere hunters for nothing!"

"Good to hear… We worry about her, ya know?"

Rikku nodded with a grin. "We all do. She's saved the world twice!"

From just over Wakka's shoulder, a figure could be seen running full speed toward the com sphere. Judging by the feathery, blond hair and tanned skin, it had to be none other than Tidus. As he sped quickly closer, it was apparent that it indeed was Tidus, and he nearly ran over Wakka and Vidina trying to get to the little sphere on the ground near Lulu and the old blitzball captain's home.

"Yuna!" he cried out, jumping in front of the screen and sending a thin cloud of dust into the air. He coughed a bit as he tried to regain his posture, and the ex-summoner standing beside Rikku could only laugh lovingly at him.

"I'm okay," she stated simply, but sweetly. "Rikku and Brother brought me back!"

"And me," Shinra added. He turned back to his control panel, ignoring the people crowded around him.

Finally, after being shooed away from the little workstation by Shinra (he never did like people crowding around him), Rikku and Yuna said their goodbyes to Tidus, Wakka and Vidina, adding that they should send Lulu their love, as well, before disappearing. The two girls announced that they were going to head for the Cabin for a bit of catching up. They knew they would not have the chance to do so once they stopped by to pick up Tidus (which they had no choice but to do so, as Yuna and Rikku begged, begged, and begged). Barkeep was behind the bar, wiping off the counter, and smiled brightly as they entered. "Mish Yoona, Mish Rikkoo, what can I do for yoo?" They grinned simultaneously and hopped on the bar stools to order.

"I would like a Chocobo Thunder," Yuna said, beaming. She seemed so happy to be back, and that, of course, made the blonde beside her completely giddy.

As the words "chocobo" and "thunder" entered her head a few seconds later, she turned now with an arched brow, giving Yuna a confused look. "Chocobo Thunder? Isn't that non-alcoholic?" she asked with her head tilted slightly to the side.

"Yep!"

"But we're both adults now!" Rikku chipped in with a grin. "Well, I am almost. Close enough, though, which means we can have a little fun now!"

"Well, it's a bit early to start with a real drink, don't you think?" Yuna asked, folding her arms neatly before her.

Rikku looked down at the glistening bar top, a bit damp from where it had been wiped off, and then looked back up at the hypello behind the bar. "I'll have a Chocobo Thunder, too, please." A strong sensation of something that felt like foolishness washed over her, engulfing her, and suddenly she hated that she was that way. She wished that she had never said anything at all about the drink. She wished she could redo the conversation and be peppy and care-free like Yunnie was, even after she was kidnapped and almost died in an airship crash. _Should I tell her we should celebrate for her,_ she wondered? _Would that be too silly? Maybe I should just keep my big mouth shut…_

The drop in Rikku's mood was as obvious as the dress sphere that had been poking out of the front of Brother's pants earlier. Yuna turned to her with a worried expression. "Is everything okay, Rikku?"

The Al Bhed girl twitched at her name being called, then suddenly realized she hadn't even paying attention to anything around her. She quickly nodded, placing her boney elbows on the bar with a careless smile. "Yeah, I was just thinkin' about things," she replied. At least she had masked her reasons well, to Yuna, for her cousin smiled back with a nod and turned back to the hypello.

"So, how have things been without me here?" Yuna asked the blue creature as he slowly selected a few glasses behind his little mini bar – only the cleanest would do for the High Summoner – and began making their drinks.

"It hash been interbareshting?" he replied carefully, but still with a happiness in his bulging eyes.

"How so?"

Rikku watched her posture, how straight and upright she was. Her cousin had always been that way. Being the daughter of Braska really helped shape and mold her into the great, sweet, and caring person she was now.

"Mish Rikkoo shtill likesh to hunt for shperesh," he continued, "and likesh to show them to me. It ish interbareshting?"

As the hypello happily talked on, Rikku only half listened, but still smiled every time he mentioned her name and looked her way so make it look more like she was listening to everything. Instead, her mind was watching and noticing little things she had always noticed before, but not so often. As she sat on her stool beside her cousin, she noted the way they contrasted each other. Yuna looked very proper. Her hands were always folded neatly, but not uncomfortably, like she had seen some of the more upper class Yevonites. The Al Bhed girl was half sitting, half slumping, on her bar stool, with her elbows and hands all over the bar top in front of her. Yuna's feet rested on the metal ring at the bottom of the stool with a stillness that Rikku only dreamed of, and as she watched her cousin's still feet, her own were going crazy below. She tapped her heels restlessly on the metal ring below her seat, which was used for giving still feet a place to rest, not a place to bump on. Rikku tried her hardest to make her feet stop moving as the conversation between the girl on her left and the blue hypello before her continued on, but every few minutes her heels would start tapping against the metal rim again without her even noticing until it was too late.

After finishing their drinks, the two made it up the staircase on the left side of the same room that led up onto the floor where their beds were kept and headed for the very end, where a comfy couch, a full book case, and a coffee table were nestled. Rikku slumped comfortably on the loveseat with the bookcase behind her, and Yuna sat gently down on the couch. Once the Al Bhed noticed her cousin's posture, she immediately slid into an upright position like her, but tried to make it look less obvious as not to draw attention.

"So, did you give Brother back his magazines?" Yuna asked with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

Rikku laughed, but tried to make it softer than she normally sounded. "I never took it in the first place… But I am starting to wonder who did."

"Maybe it was Shinra," the brown haired girl replied jestingly.

This time, the laugh just came out on its own. Rikku did not expect it, but kept moving anyway. "Yeah, he's almost that age!" She looked down at her plain clothing with a frown. She really needed to get that dress sphere back. And speaking of, she really needed to let Yuna borrow her Gunner dress sphere, so that she could look the way she used to again. If only Paine were there to join them…

Rikku stood and walked over to her bed, the one in the middle, chosen because she likes big spaces and being in the middle makes you feel like you own every space around you, and pulled out a box from beneath it. All of her dress spheres and garment grids were kept in here now that she rarely used them, and after sifting through the box for a few moments, she was victorious. With the Gunner dress sphere placed into the Tempered Will garment grid (because she didn't want to be cheap and give her the crappy Unerring Path, one of the very first ones they had received that did absolutely nothing but hold two dress spheres inside it), along with the Warrior and White Mage dress spheres for those 'just in case' moments, Rikku skipped back over to Yuna. She grinned as she gave Yuna the garment grid that sported three little spheres, all varying in color, and two little empty sockets that would fit two more, if needed.

"Oh, Rikku… Thank you so much!"

"Nooo problem!" she said, giving her a thumbs up. She quickly balled her hands when Yuna looked back down at the garment grid, trying to remind herself to not be so childish around her.

Now that Yuna was all changed into her Gunner outfit, a pang of nostalgia slapped the two girls across the face. Though her hair had grown a bit longer, Yuna looked exactly the same as she did a year ago when they had first given it to her, when Kimahri had found the sphere on Mount Gagazet that had Shuyin in it…when they had taken down Vegnagun. Rikku _had_ to get her dress sphere now! There would be no more playing around about the matter – she would have it, and she would never let it go. The memories were just too deep, too powerful…

An idea struck the blonde just as she was about to storm down the stairs with renewed hope. She turned to her cousin with an innocent smile. "Yuna, will you come with me to Brother's room so I can find my dress sphere?"

"Of course, Rikku!" she replied with a light clap of her hands. Rikku knew that if Yuna was there, Brother would give her anything.

The two hurried down the stairs and out of the Cabin area. Brother's room was still near the area, but was hidden in with the wall in the hallway. When Rikku placed her hands on the door and leaned in to see if she could hear anyone inside, the door suddenly pushed open. A sudden shock of fear ran through her chest. Brother's door was never left unlocked or partly open, _ever_. Yuna did not notice anything wrong until her cousin looked back up at her with a terrible look apprehension on her face.

Rikku carefully pushed the door forward. She froze when the sound of a light bump on the bottom of the door drifted through to them. After a moment or two of silence, she pushed just a little more. And a little more. And a little more. Finally, the door was opened enough to see that no one was inside, and the object bumping against the bottom of the door was none other than her dress sphere.

Yuna nearly bent down to pick it up as it began to roll toward them, but Rikku immediately stopped her, shaking her head. She then sifted through her little pack, finding nothing, and resorted to ripping off part of her shirt sleeve to use to pick up the little sphere. Once it was safely wrapped in the piece of cloth and placed into her pocket, the two slowly snuck inside the room and turned the lights on. So far, there was no sign of Brother ever leaving the room. All the signs that they had found pointed to bad, however, and after making one more sweep of the messy room for any sign, any sign at all that would give them a clue to where he was, they prepared to leave.

"Wait," Yuna said, stopping them both just at the exit of the room. She pushed the door in, searching with her eyes. "I could have sworn I saw something…" As she stopped the door about halfway from being closed, the two suddenly gasped. On the handle, there was a small bit of blood.


	5. The Note

**Chapter 5  
****The Note**

Buddy was the one to speak up and volunteer to fully search Brother's room. At first, Rikku was a little mad that her father hadn't done it himself, but she slowly began understand why when she saw the look he kept trying to hide on his face. Even though he and Brother had their falling out during Yuna's pilgrimage, they had tried to bury it behind them after Sin was defeated and keep their harsh words to each other behind them. Even now, there were times that they would glance at each other in a less than friendly way, but they were also happier to share the same room with each other now that the hatchet was buried.

Rikku couldn't bear to look at Cid's face any longer, but for some reason her eyes kept wondering back up from the navigation sphere, always lingering on the back of his head until he would move around, and then she would look away with a sharp sting of remorse. Even when Buddy came back up from searching the room, a white piece of paper in his hand, Rikku still found that her eyes would not allow her to look anywhere else. The situation became rapidly more difficult for her as she watched her father unfold the little white square of paper, scam over it three times exactly, and then stand there in shock. He tried to shake it off, and turned back to the navigation sphere where she stood, but then walked past it and up to the middle seat, the main piloting station where Brother always sat. He just stood there for the longest time, with his hands behind his back, staring straight out in front of him into the clouds ahead.

It was not long before they would reach Besaid Island, where Tidus was probably waiting as patiently as a fiend with a cookie out in front of him – the cookie being a young little Kindergardian smothered in a thick honey mustard sauce – but the wait felt so much like days as opposed to hours. It probably felt that way to Tidus and Yuna, too, but this story was not about them. They had already told theirs. It was Rikku's now, and it did not seem to be going very happily.

The little white note that was found buried somewhere in Brother's room was obviously a ransom note, but only Buddy and Cid had read it. After it was read, Cid stuffed it into his pocket, and neither of the two seemed to want to share what was on it. Rikku would normally have asked, and asked, and asked until she got her way, but the situation was different. Very different. It wasn't just a receipt for a naughty magazine or something interesting like that – it was Brother's life. She decided she would find out later. In the mean time, the clear and happier air on the deck of the ship was calling out to her.

"Yunnie, wanna go on the deck?" Rikku's hands were clasped behind her back and her upper body dipped forward in typical Rikku fashion.

"No…" her cousin replied softly, as not to sound harsh. "I think I'm going to stay down here until we get to Besaid."

"'Kay…but you're missin' out!" Rikku replied with a wink. Her attempt to save Yuna from the depressive atmosphere inside the airship failed. Rikku shrugged and walked down the hall to the elevator. The elevator lift was usually pretty fast, but it couldn't move fast enough for the Al Bhed teen. Before she reached the deck, however, she remembered her thief dress sphere in her pocket, wrapped around a piece of cloth and waiting to be disinfected. She halfheartedly did so in one of the restrooms on board and equipped it. The nostalgia did not hit her again this time.

Rikku trudged back to the elevator, her long, orange scarf hanging limply around her neck. Finally, when the doors opened to reveal the deck of the ship, the frayed yellow ends of the scarf immediately picked up the wind and began to billow again. It was like walking out of a heavy, stuffy reality box and into a dream world outside.

Rikku hurried to the very end of the bow, just to where the deck ended, and slipped her long, slender legs around the big, metal hood ornament, a phoenix in shape, and wrapped her arms around it. The wind up here was strong, but felt great to her hot, tired skin. The clouds, once a pure, untainted white, where now beginning to lose their brightness and become a little gray as the airship sailed further toward the southern tip of the continent, where the beautiful shores of Besaid waited for them. Rikku remembered the water there being a little warmer than the sea surrounding Bikanel Desert, and the color seemed much bluer, too, but it still wasn't nearly as pretty underneath the surface as her beloved home.

It wasn't long before thoughts of Yuna and Brother being abducted, the very thoughts she was trying to avoid, slipped into her mind, and anxiety took over her once calmer face. She knew that inside of the gorgeous red airship, Buddy and Shinra were probably debating on how anyone could have snuck inside, unseen, and take Brother from them. Rikku could not help but wonder the same. Whoever it was did not come by airship, or else they would have seen it on their radars. They would have tried to grapple the Celsius and force their way on board like barbarians, for only Shinra had the suits they had used earlier to reach the other airship undetected. It was possible that the thieves could have an invention of their own, for they were Al Bhed, and if it was one thing that they would know how to do, it would be building machines from machina parts. Of course, Rikku did not normally use the term 'machina' now to describe anything Al Bhed-made, for when it was used in disgust by the Yevon fanatics, it became a tainted name to call great, wonderful machines, such as the very airship they now travelled on. Things like her Machina Maw dress sphere, however, she could not replace the name of. She tried, but it didn't take very well, and everyone seemed to say that it didn't even sound cool to say anymore.

It wasn't long before Besaid was in view. The beach was completely bare, something that was normal during the Blitzball season off-hours when the Aurocs would not be rampaging excitedly around in their training, but still strange to see, nonetheless. The Celsius eased down, though it was not nearly as smooth as Brother would have done, and hovered just above the sand and recalling waves. Tidus seemed to come out of nowhere, and even from this far up, Rikku could still see the hope and relief in his features. He still wore the same clothing. She wished he would change those shorts of his to make them even, or at least to where the short leg would come down below his knee and not above it.

Rikku did not bother with moving. She knew he would immediately come up to the top of the deck where she was so he could see his little sister. They were not technically related, but that never stopped them from feeling it.

The airship slowly rose up to depart. Rikku waited. The Celsius turned and took off, northbound. She waited. By the time she had grown restless enough to finally get up and skitter her way to the elevator, Tidus finally appeared, half surprised, half smiling. But there was something else in his expression that was completely out of place – something that made her stomach nearly flop over.

"Rikku!" he cried out, opening his arms for a hug. The teen leaned in to his friendly embrace and followed him as he walked out onto the middle of the airship's deck. Even with the strange, unwanted feeling that she received from his hidden expression, he still knew how to cheer her right up. "How've you been? You never talk to us anymore!"

"Well, Shinra's always hogging up the screen, so I can never use the com spheres!" she replied with a laugh. It felt amazing to laugh again. "So how have you been?"

"Eh…worried," he replied slowly, putting a hand to the back of his head. "I can't believe Yuna was… I can't believe she was taken right in the middle of the night without any of us waking up." Tidus sighed. "It was really weird… And why do they want her, anyway?"

"It doesn't make any sense," Rikku agreed. She put a thin finger to her chin, then looked up again. "Did Pops let you see the note? 'Cause I think there might be a clue there…"

Tidus suddenly looked up, a note of surprise in his eyes. "You know about the note?"

"Well, yeah… I mean, I saw Buddy give it to him."

"You don't know what's on it, though?" he asked, his expression melding from surprise to uneasiness.

_Okay, what is going on,_ Rikku wondered? She crossed her arms and put her weight on her right leg, a stance that explained exactly what she was thinking. "…You know what's on it, don't you?"

Tidus bit his lip. "I don't know if you wanna hear it…"

"Tell me!" Rikku demanded with a light stomp of her foot. The cute foot-stomp always made things go her way. Always.

The blitzball star looked away, then back again with concern. "Well, I didn't read it, but they told me what's on it."

Rikku relaxed a little, now that she knew he was going to tell her. "And who's they?"

"Buddy, Cid, and…everyone else."

"Everyone? What do you mean _everyone?_" she replied, tensing up again.

Tidus winced, as though bracing for a hit in the face. "Um, well… I, er…uh… Don't tell anyone I told you…okay?"

"Tell me already!" she cried, flipping her arms up into the air.

"…They said that they'll take you next if we don't hand over Yuna," Tidus explained quickly, moving out of Rikku's melee range.

"They'll…take me…?"

"And that Brother is already dead… But wait, we don't believe that's true-"

"-WHAT?!" Rikku's jaw nearly hit the deck. She stared at him in disbelief, her form frozen, as though she had been hit with a fiend's petrifying attack.

"Wait! Everyone thinks they're trying to call our bluff, so don't worry!" Tidus replied with his hands up in the air in defense. He was really mucking things up now. What else was new, though?

Rikku dashed to the elevator and down to the Bridge. Before she could even open her mouth to speak, everyone turned to her knowingly. They had expected someone to say something sooner or later. And of course, it would be Tidus.

"Okay," Rikku began, stopping at the railing before the two short steps to her sides that led the way to the floor of the bridge. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

For a while, there was silence. Then from the right side of the room, Shinra spoke. "We worried that you would overreact," he replied casually. He seemed to be the only one brave enough to say anything. The boy added quickly before she could answer back, "And in our defense, we didn't know about this information until Tidus boarded."

"Do you know where the note is?" she asked, looking directly at her father. His head was turned around, of course, and he seemed to still be staring out into the clouds.

Shinra shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I don't know… I'm just a kid."


	6. Return of the Guardian

**Chapter 6  
Return of the Guardian**

Rikku waited in her bed, attempting to rest. But since when did resting ever help her? All she could do now was think, and think… And think. And for some reason, it was making her rather hungry.

The girl loitered clumsily out of her bed. Her energy felt as though it had reached an all time low, which was extremely risky. A hyper girl with nothing to make her hyper was a dangerous girl. She wished that Tidus would give her one of his motivational speeches. She wished that Yuna would keep her going with her abundance of encouragement. She wished that Lulu could give her the answers that she always seemed to have, or that Wakka could be behind her in wanting to get teamed up with everyone again to solve the issues that everyone was facing now. She wished that Auron hadn't gone poof to the Farplane, so that he could scare her into being heroic. She wished that Kimahri wasn't the leader of his people now, so that he would still be with Yuna. Maybe none of this would have happened if he were there with her, protecting her as he had always done so well.

Suddenly, she wished that Brother were there to put on her Thief dress sphere again. She had to face the facts – behind the anger and the confusion, it really was a funny sight to see. She wanted to laugh again. Silent, boring Rikku was not fun to be with. She wanted happy, slouchy, fun Rikku back.

She made her way down the stairs in the back of the room over to Barkeep. He seemed to have read her mind, for he immediately lit the stove in the back (what, you think he was there just to serve drinks all day?) and waddled back to his usual spot to await her order.

"Mish Rikkoo, what can I do for yoo?"

Rikku took a seat at one of the stools and let the front of her head rest on the bar top. "Just a sandwich, I guess."

"What kind can I make for yoo?"

"Um…surprise me," she replied after a short moment of thought. She listened to the hypello walk away and disappear into the back, then slowly lifted her head up. Hidden behind the bar was a picture of Darling, Barkeep's ex girlfriend. They did not stay together long before she began to bicker, and eventually everyone stayed away from them to avoid feeling uncomfortable. It was a sad, terrible time, in which Rikku began to spend more time with him after the breakup to make him feel good again. He sort of became the only person that could listen to her ramble on for long periods of time without resorting to suicide to make her shut up, and she grew to appreciate it. Suddenly, when everyone would lose interest in a boring sphere that she found, Barkeep would be the one to excite her back into wanting to know more about it, no matter the boring exterior.

"Mish Rikkoo?"

Rikku shot up suddenly, startled by the sudden appearance of Barkeep. "Huh? Wha'd I miss?"

The hypello held out a neatly constructed sandwich on a plate to her. As she thanked him, feeling a little embarrassed, he waved it away with his blue hand. "No worriesh?"

The sandwich was actually very tasty, and even upped Rikku's mood by a point or two when she tried the first bite. "Thanks, Barkeep! It's really good," she was able to say before greedily ripping into it again.

"Mish Rikkoo, what ish wrong?" the hypello suddenly asked in his slow voice. The Al Bhed girl stopped chewing the large mouthful of sandwich-y goodness and looked up at him. Though she couldn't answer at the moment, he continued anyway with a hint of concern in his eyes. "Yoo helped me when Darling left, sho I want to help yoo?"

It took her a moment to chew and swallow the large portion in her mouth, but she was able to without choking. She really felt touched by his words. "It's…Yunie." She put her sandwich back down on the plate in front of her and sighed. "For some reason, those kidnappers want Yunie, and they've already taken Brother and said that they would take me next if we didn't hand her over." Barkeep listened intently, his eyes on her as she went on with a heavy sigh. "I just wish that we could be her Guardians again…"

A soft moment of silence passed before the hypello replied carefully, "But Mish Rikkoo, yoo are shtill a Guardian?"

"…I am?" Rikku cocked her head to the side, a rush of realization immediately washing over her. "I am! I _am_ a Guardian!" she cried, standing to her feet with renewed hope. "I was still Yunie's Guardian the moment I saved her from the Alexander!"

"Yesh, a Guardian," Barkeep agreed. Although he did not sound excited, that was about as excited a hypello could get. He slowly jumped in the air with a fist raised to encourage her further.

Rikku, forgetting all about her worries, as well as her sandwich, sprinted for the beds on the upper landing and yanked the box out from beneath her bed. First, she would assemble her dress spheres. Then, she would gather the whole gang up and officially declare everyone a Guardian again. Then, they would figure out a way to save Brother, find out the evil plot behind it all, and heroically defeat the bad guys. It was a fail-proof plan! To Rikku, of course.

After stuffing all of the dress spheres and garment grids she could into her pouches and bags, she sped back down, tackled Barkeep with a hug, and hurried to the elevator. She reached the Bridge in a flash, and leaped into the center of the room as everyone turned to eye her.

"Alright, listen up people!" she cried out. Her determination was already beginning to infect the others before they even knew what was happening. "We have been given a choice! The kidnappers will not have victory over us, and you know why? Because we defeated Sin! We defeated Vegnagun! That is PROOF that we cannot give up…proof that we will WIN!"

Rikku waited for someone to speak, breathing quickly in excitement. An eerie moment of silence crept over everyone, and all that could be heard was the mechanics in the airship purring away. Yuna was the first to speak this time.

"Rikku's right!" she said, standing up beside her cousin. "We can't give up, and we won't! Right?"

Another short moment of quietness before Cid turned around now to look at everyone. Though he had not spoken a word since the little white note and had seemed to be completely lost in regrets, his face now showed a bit of light and hope. "Yeah…I guess," he grunted, nodding at the two girls. Everyone else seemed to nod with him now.

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" the Al Bhed girl cried out, stretching her arms high above her head in a victory pose. "We are still Guardians! Nothing can change that, ever!"

Rikku dashed over to Shinra's station and pushed him out of the way, ignoring his complaints and gripes, and brought up the comm sphere network. Everyone seemed to crowd around her, save for Buddy, whom was busy piloting the airship. Of the list of com spheres that were all set up, four were down – Djose Temple, Thunder Plains, Bikanel, and Luca. She chose the first one, Besaid.

The fuzzy screen slowly came into focus, revealing the small village of Besaid – home to Lulu, Wakka, Yuna, and Tidus. Wakka and Lulu were already outside with Vidina in between them, each parent holding one of his hands and laughing at the cute way he waddled clumsily along beside them. Rikku was almost beside herself with delight, and was about to squeal out about how cute the baby was, until Tidus cut in.

"Rikku…what are we doing?" he asked, a hand on the back of his head.

It took her a few moments to tear her eyes away from the screen. "Huh? Oh! I'm getting the Guardians back together again, wha'd ya think I was doing?"

Before anyone could object, Lulu's eyes caught the com sphere's activity. Wakka picked up their son, and the two made their way over with smiling faces – the father's grin being the biggest of them all, and Lulu's smile a little harder to detect, but still noticeable.

"Hey!" Rikku said.

"Hello everyone," Lulu replied in her smokey tone. Vidina tried to grab for her necklace as she stood closer to Wakka. "Have you figured out what is going on?"

"Eh, well…" Rikku didn't quite know how to answer that.

"We're working on it," Yuna finished for her cousin.

"Yeah, that's right! And that brings me to my point," Rikku said, leaning in closer to the screen with anticipation. "We're bringing the Guardians back, and we want to know if you guys want in."

The reactions of the three on the other side of the com sphere reception were interesting, to say the least. Wakka's eyes immediately lit up, and it was plain to see that he was completely for the idea. Lulu's eyes softened a bit, but one corner of her mouth tilted downward in an expression clearly marked as uncertainty. Vidina succeeded in snatching the flat, purple beads around his mother's neck and tugged on them with a delighted grin.

"Well, Rikku…it would be an honor to become Yuna's Guardian again," Lulu began as gently as she could, "but we have to be a guardian to this one." She carefully unhooked Vidina's tight little grasp and smiled at him before looking back up at the com sphere. "I'm sorry, Rikku."

Wakka's expression was filled with an obvious sulk as his excitement levels dropped down. "I wish we could come with you. It would be like old times, ya?"

When the goodbyes were said and done, and the transmission was ended, Rikku's happiness meter was dropped by half of what it was when she started. Already, the entire idea was ending in shambles.

"Rikku, don't you wanna try somewhere else?" Tidus chipped in, attempting to jump start her determination.

"Yeah…" she replied slowly, looking over the list of working comm spheres on the screen once more. _C'mon, now – we can do this,_ she told herself. She had to keep going. Brother's life was on the line...unless he was already dead. She shook her head suddenly. _No, I'm not gonna think like that!_

The next working comm sphere was in the Kilika port area. Everyone ignored Shinra's grumpy complaints as Rikku connected to the specific area. The fuzzy screen began to focus in as a few children playing tag scurried across the wooden planks from down below and disappeared out of view. From where the comm sphere was set on the corner of a straw rooftop, a clear view of nearly the entire port was visible. From the left, exiting a home that was barely noticeable without further inspection, a tall, thin, tanned woman with a bulging belly appeared. She was known as Dona, and was also known as the one who wore the metaphorical pants (she actually wore a very revealing skirt) in the family. Rikku and Yuna gasped in joy.

"Dona! Hey, Dona!" Rikku called out, catching the attention of the pregnant ex-summoner.

Dona waddled gingerly over to the comm sphere, a plain, almost bored look on her face. Though she seemed less tense than she used to be, she still seemed to be very much a dominant and a blunt person. Everyone knew that would never change.

"Why hello, Yuna and friends." She gave them a slight smile, but it did not last for too long.

"It's so wonderful to see you again!" Yuna replied, clasping her hands together. "How are things on your side?"

"Mmm…suppose they are good," Dona answered, a hand on her hip. "There are much less fiends here now that those annoying Kinderguardians are here. They seem to be the lesser of two evils."

Rikku giggled. "Where's Barthello at, future mommy?"

Dona suddenly became quiet. Everyone aboard the Celsius got the "oh no" look on their face as the pregnant ex-summoner on the other side of the screen gulped softly. "He is gone, once again trying to prove his worth. But have no sympathy for me," she quickly added. Dona inhaled deeply, then relaxed. "He'll be back soon enough."

Everyone seemed to want to leave the subject alone from there, and since there was no point in asking her to help, Rikku moved on down the list. Mushroom Rock was no longer the Youth League headquarters, as they moved to a building near Kilika. The next was Djose, which was not in working order (it usually never was), and the Moonflow after that, which now held nothing of interest. Guadosalam was the next comm sphere to be connected to.

No sooner had they connected, loud, bubbly circus music immediately began to blare through the comm sphere. Shinra leaped across Rikku in a panic, praying that the speakers wouldn't blow, and seemed to reach it just in time as a pair of hypello walked by and noticed the sphere on the ground that watched them. They approached with a wave, while Rikku and Yuna gave the same motion back.

"Hello there!" the ex-summoner greeted warmly, putting her hands on the back of the seat that her cousin claimed. "What is going over there?"

"There ish a carnivabal here?" one of them replied, clapping his hands together.

"Ooh, oooh!" Rikku turned to look at Yuna. "When we save you and brother and get the bad guys, can we go to the carnival?"

Yuna laughed lightly. "Of course!" She turned to the screen once again. "Have either of you seen Tobli around?"

"He ish around here shomewhere," the other hypello replied, looking all around himself.

"When you see him, could ya tell him to get a hold of us?" Tidus chipped in. There was no point in questioning the two hypello about Brother or the mysterious bandits and the crashed Alexander. After the two blue creatures nodded and said their goodbyes, Rikku continued on down the line, almost forgetting what she was doing there in the first place. The loud, fun music of the rides and bright, flashing lights behind the hypellos they had spoken with were so enticing to her.

The next was Thunder Planes, but the comm sphere there never seemed to work. Macalania Woods was no more, and neither was the comm sphere that used to be there. Next on the list was Bikanel Desert, but any time they attempted to connect, they could only see the insides of a fiend's stomach there. Bevelle held nothing of interest, as it almost appeared that no one was even there. The sphere in the Calm lands beheld nothing out of the ordinary, either, but as Rikku stopped at the next one on the list, Mt. Gagazet, she smiled. "Kimahri should be there for sure!"

The fuzzy screen began to focus as the link was connected, and the Elder Ronso, Kimahri, immediately saw the comm sphere blink on. Yuna, Rikku, and Tidus all began to smile and greet him as he approached them and sat down before the screen.

"How are ya, Kimahri?" Rikku asked. "Ready to go take on some bad guys?"

"Kimahri not know what you mean," the Ronso replied patiently.

"Hehe, long story," Yuna replied. "Well, there is someone after me, and we need to find out who it is and stop them."

"We're getting the Guardians back together!" Rikku chipped in with a fist in the air. Her arm suddenly fell to her side when the Ronso only shook his head.

"Kimahri want to help Yuna, but Kimahri is Elder. Kimahri must watch over mountain."

Tidus sighed at the expression on Rikku's face. "Did you expect anything less?" he whispered, nudging her in the shoulder.

"No… I guess not…" She looked up at the Ronso on the screen and forced a smile. "We understand, Kimahri."

"We know that you would be here if you could," Yuna added hopefully, resting a comforting hand on her cousin's shoulder.

Once Shinra was finally able to tackle his workstation back, Rikku slumped sadly over to the navigation sphere in the center of the bridge and sighed. She looked back up at Yuna and Tidus, whom were both on their way to her, and sighed again. What was she going to do?

"Cheer up, Rikku. We can find these guys on our own," Tidus said.

"Yeah, but… I wanted the Guardians back." She pouted, to which Yuna smiled.

"I'm really touched that you care that much about me," she said to her, "but I think we'll be fine now. All I really need is you and Tidus here – that's all the protection I could ever want!"

Rikku smiled a little as her cousin winked at her. "Well… We still have other places to visit. I was thinking that maybe Gippal would know more about Alexander, or the people who took it."

"Course is already set for Djose Temple," Cid chipped in, walking stiffly over to the small group. He pushed Tidus out of the way and stepped up to the navigation sphere. "Looks like we'll be there in less than twenty minutes." The older man looked down at his daughter and suddenly frowned. "Why don't cha put on something more…clothy!"

"But Pops, I didn't make the dressphere this way!" Rikku replied in defense. She pointed at Shinra with a pout. "Ask him about it – he's the one who made it!"

While Cid was distracted with chasing down Shinra, Rikku went to work in the corner with rearranging her dress spheres and putting them into the many garment grids that she possessed. She never had been good at doing this, as not only was her patience a little low, but it was difficult to decide where to put what, and which ones would be needed more than the others. In the end, she resorted to begging Yuna for aid before they reached their destination.

The Celsius hovered effortlessly over the temple, and a landing party of Rikku, Yuna, and Tidus finally made it off of the airship and onto ground. South of them, where the road began and eventually stretched the length of Mushroom Rock Road, an enormous, mangled hunk of metal was being pulled on a thin platform with many wheals. Two giant Shoopuffs worked to pull it forward, grunting and stomping, while a party of Al Bhed circled the piece of metal, watching it carefully and yelling out orders to each other. The landing party from the Celsius stepped aside to allow the two Shoopuffs to pass by, followed by the people around the huge unidentified hunk of metal.

Rikku laughed as they finally made it to the temple and began their attempts to move the metal from the platform without crushing anyone. "I think Gippal is biting off more than he can chew…"

"Since when does he not?" Tidus replied with a chuckle.

"Speak of the devil," the voice of Gippal suddenly replied from behind the three. They all turned around, Tidus jumping in surprise, as the handsome leader of the Machine Faction greeted them with a sly wink and a confident smirk. "Well, well. What brings you three here? I know it can't be good… It seems you only drop by when the world's in danger."

"Eh, about that," Rikku began sheepishly. "Well, you're half right about that!"

"We're in need of some information," Yuna replied with a grin.

"Yep, what she said!" The blonde Al Bhed shrugged, then looked back to Gippal. "So, have you heard anything about the Alexander or crazy people wanting to kidnap Yunie?"

Gippal's brow rose with curiosity, and he fiddled with his eye patch as he spoke. "Well, if you're looking for the Alexander, it's right over there." He pointed to the huge piece of metal that had been brought to set just outside of the temple. "Shame we didn't find it sooner."

Rikku's jaw dropped in horror as she looked at the mangled metal once more. "That's what's left of the Alexander?" Her body slumped as she began to pout in one of her famous Rikku expressions.

Gippal stepped before her and held up her chin, so that she could see him eye to eye. "Cheer up, kid. That's only part of it, and it's only the worst part."

His words did not seem to comfort her at all. Rikku turned her head away from him, backing away so that he could not try and touch her again. She had always felt uncomfortable about being near him ever since he dumped her all those years ago. Then again, she felt that she could only blame herself, for she knew he was never a "one girl" type of guy. It was her firm belief that he would have jumped at the chance to get Yuna into his hands if she had not been so firm about finding Tidus.

"About a week ago, a few of my guys left and told me they had found another job," Gippal continued as he walked back before Yuna and Tidus, crossing his arms. "I can almost bet you they were the ones that had a hand in wrecking the airship."

Everyone aside from the Al Bhed whom had been speaking gasped. "So that's who tried to kidnap Yunie!" Rikku looked to her cousin, whom had a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Whoa, whoa – wait a sec. How did you come up with that one?" Gippal asked, his expression now a skeptical doubt.

"'Cause when the Alexander almost _purposely_ crashed into us, which made Pops mad and he made me and Shinra board it, even though I didn't really _want_ to go with him, I found Yunie in the engine room and I had to save her." Rikku breathed deeply and exhaled sharply. "That's how I know."

Again, Gippal's brow rose, but this time with interest. "Let me get this straight. My guys found and hijacked the Alexander, tried to ram it into you, and you ended up finding Lady Yuna inside?"

Yuna nodded to him, her hands interlocked behind her back. Tidus, both hands on the back of his head, smiled easily. "So, you gonna tell us who these guys of yours are?"

"Dorron and Tran… I thought they were harmless. I guess I thought wrong." Gippal chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well, that's not the worst part," Rikku added, her hands on her hips while dipping forward for effect. "They got Brother, too, and they're claiming that they killed him!"

"They _killed_ him?" Gippal put a hand to his temple, somewhat casually shaking his head, but still in a way that said he was distraught by the news.

"Well, we don't really know that for sure," Yuna included, concern painted across her face. "They only claimed that they did."

The blond Al Bhed leader shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

"Ah, that's right!" Yuna suddenly said in a moment of clarity. "The Farplane!"

Rikku's shoulder flinched at the mention of the word. "The…Farplane…? But… We can just track down those two guys, Dorron and Tran…"

Before anyone could hear what she had said, Tidus began to chip in for the ex-summoner. "Yeah, that's a great idea!"

"I think it's the easiest way," Gippal agreed with a short nod. "You could probably go in through the temple back there."

"You guys-"

"-We'll go right away!" Yuna replied, interrupting the little blonde girl at her side, whom was almost crunched all the way into a tight ball of uneasiness now.

"But, wait-"

"You three should hurry and go now," Gippal said quickly, looking back to his workers near the temple, whom were struggling with the piece of the Alexander they had salvaged. "The area will be off limits soon. I'll have to do an investigation, if what you said was right about my guys kidnapping the High Summoner herself…"

"Hey, wait! I don't feel comfortable about-"

"-Alright, let's go!" Yuna cried out, jumping into the air.


	7. To the Farplane

**Chapter 7  
To the Farplane**

Into the temple, the team of three went – Rikku, grasping tightly to her garment grids, Yuna, pulling her cousin along by her arm, and Tidus, leading them both through with a wave. Rikku had been to the Farplane before, oh yes. Sometimes it came with the deal of being a hero. The last time she visited, however, it was different. The last time she had gone through was because of Shuyin and Vegnagun and their silliness. This time, they were going in to see if her Brother was, in fact, killed by the rogue Al Bhed. It was a completely different situation, calling for completely different measures. It wasn't at all like getting over her fear of going anywhere near the Thunder Planes. Lightening was one thing – dead people were another.

With a gulp, Rikku followed her two friends through the room that used to hold the Experiment – a mechanical monster that Gippal's boys and girls had put together with the parts that Yuna and Co. had unknowingly gathered for them in the deserts of Bikanel – and into the small area where the hole in the ground waited for them. On top of the hole was a large, flat piece of metal. Tidus pulled it back, wanting to back away at the sound of the hinges of the metal trapdoor creaking and whining, and stood back beside Yuna. They both smiled to each other, a sweet, confident smile that was just for them, and held hands before looking back at Rikku. The poor Al Bhed was now on her knees, sorting out her garment grids hurriedly.

"Rikku, c'mon," Tidus said with a short smirk. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know…but I can't find a certain thing…" She trailed off, ignoring them as she continued to sift through the garment grids faster.

"We have to hurry before they shoo us out," Yuna said, trying not to sound as though she were insensitively pushing her cousin to hurry.

Unfortunately, Rikku took it just the opposite. "I'm going as fast as I can – there's too many of these things!" She sighed, dropping her hands down on the scattered garment grids, and suddenly gasped with glee. "Ah, I FOUND IT!" She stood to her feet with an exasperated grin, holding out two garment grids – The End, and Higher Power. She shoved the Higher Power garment grid into her cousin's hand, then held The End close to her chest while using her free hand to pick up the extra garment grids, stuffing them all into her various pouches.

"When am I gonna get one of those dress sphere things?" Tidus asked, watching the Al Bhed with curiosity.

"We'll have to convince Shinra to help us with that," Yuna replied with a giggle. Finally, the three jumped down into the hole.

The fall was not a soft one, unlike any other time any of them had been to the Farplane. Instead of the usual happy plop onto a vast bed of wild flowers, Yuna's rear suddenly met cold, hard stone. She cried out in pain, clenching her teeth as she stood warily to her feet. As she looked around herself, noticing the floating stone road that she had walked on almost a year ago, she suddenly realized that Rikku and Tidus were not anywhere to be seen.

Though she was worried as to what might have happened to them, she held no fear on the matter. Her cousin, though timid of the Farplane, would be fine this time around, she was sure. Tidus would need no help at all, for not only was he just as strong and amazing as he used to be so long ago, but he would not become sent being there in the vast mazes and strange walkways that served as the home of the pyreflies. They had already tested that theory out, anyway.

The brunette walked confidently forward, looking all around herself for any sign of the little thief or the love of her life. She followed along the road, jumping across the gaps to floating rocks that seemed stable enough to hold her weight. The Farplane did not scare her in the least, as it never had before. She respected and understood the cycle of Life and Death, for being a summoner was not just about learning to harness an aeon of the fayth. And so she continued forward, no doubts or anxieties in her mind, and followed the length of the strange, stone path that froze suspended in air.

. . .

. . .

Tidus had also fallen onto a stone surface, but instead of his rear meeting the cold, hard rock, his face did. He sat up, wincing, and mouthed the word "ow" before attempting to open his eyes.

"Yuna?" he asked, his voice almost hanging in the air. He looked around, confused, and groaned when he realized that he was all alone. The Blitzball star stood to his feet, holding the side of his face where he had fallen, and studied the surface beneath him. The path was all stone, and seemed to float in the air with nothing for it to support it. He immediately frowned, already knowing what had happened to Yuna and Rikku. The many paths to the Farplane had always been confusing, sometimes downright insane, and were subject to change at any time. He remembered back when he first met Yuna, when he entered the Chamber of the Fayth for his first time. It was completely confusing. Adding on top of that, the paths that were actually _below _the chambers were even more puzzling to solve.

With a sigh, he began to walk forward, almost laughing. "Okay, I'll play along," he said to the air, watching the slender stone path with a smile. He knew he would find the two girls eventually, and in the mean time, perhaps he could do a little catching up with his father before checking to see if Brother's image would appear?

. . .

. . .

Rikku landed on her side with a soft thud. She immediately gasped, sitting up straight as a tight, unbreakable fear gripped around her fast beating heart. _Oh no,_ her mind squealed as she stood, hunched over and hugging herself. _Oh no, oh no!_

"Yunie?" she called out into the air a little sharper than what she would have liked. "Tidus? You guys…?" The teen looked around, pyreflies floating by with their humming and crystal-like sounds, which almost sounded like soft songs. They had always had a special knack for creeping Rikku out. She waved at the air, shooing off one of them while stepping backward. They were everywhere.

"Hello?" she continued to call out, walking slowly forward. She glanced down at her garment grid with dread as she looked over the five little differently colored spheres placed snugly within it. She had her Thief dress sphere, along with Samurai, Black Mage, Gun Mage, and Alchemist dress spheres (leaving some of the good ones with Yuna, like Gunner, White Mage, and Songstress, since she had always had a special bond with those three specialties), but at that very moment she was wishing that she had not let her cousin have the Trainer dress sphere. She needed someone, anyone, to be there with her, so that she would not feel so desolate and afraid. Any time she was with Yuna, she was not near as scared, and now she wished that she could have little Ghiki alongside her to cut the bad feelings away.

_Just…stay calm_, she thought to herself, looking around the area, wide-eyed. _Just keep moving the legs… That's all that really matters, just keep moving the legs and everything else will come with them…_

The blonde made it to the edge of the field of flowers. Off of the edge, there was nothing but black and nothingness, and the feeling she would usually get while laying on her back on the Deck of the Celsius and looking straight up at the clouds and sky suddenly hit her hard in the chest, and she fell backward onto the wildflowers, gasping. The whole idea of the Farplane, its purpose and meaning, and the entire place in itself, was just too much for her to handle.

Rikku stood, making sure that her feet felt firm and safe on the ground, and looked out into the darkness once more. She closed her eyes and inhaled, hoping that once she did what it was that she came there to do, she would be allowed to go back home, and brought up a clear image in her mind of Brother. She imagined his crazy, wide-eyed expression, that silly tuft of blond hair that was supposed to look like a cool mohawk, and those strange tattoos that she just knew he would regret getting when he was older and had more sense…if it was even possible for him to have any.

The teen slowly opened one eye, looking around to see still nothing but darkness, and when she felt it was safe to look, the other lid of her closed eye lifted, as well. There was nothing there. A short giggle escaped her throat as she quickly stepped backward and away from the ledge. _He's okay! He's not dead – they were bluffing all along!_ Rikku smiled, feeling a heavy wave of sadness lift from her shoulders and chest.

Now, there was still the matter of actually saving him, but she decided that they would discuss that thought once they were all together. She hated to think alone. Indeed, she hated to do anything alone, not because she depended on others for help, but because she needed their company and companionship. Putting all of the thoughts and words running and spinning through her mind aside, Rikku stepped forward toward what appeared to be the other end of the field of flowers.

"I have to be strong," she began to tell herself aloud. "I'm a Guardian again. Yunie needs me to be strong." She thought back on all of the people she had attempted to contact through the comm sphere network, of how all of them were so busy in their own lives, of how they were much too busy to help Yunie. Of course, it was not because they didn't want to help her, Rikku knew, but because they couldn't. It was that very moment that she realized there was always Auron.

With a nod, the Al Bhed thief veered off of her path to stand before the darkness again. She closed her eyes, as before, and pictured Auron in her mind. She saw the grim expression he used to always carry, the big, floppy red coat, the sake jug, and that enormous sword that Shinra had copied from when making a few of the dress spheres to look unique for the Gullwings. Again, as before, she slowly opened one eye, her left eye, as she had done years ago when asked by the Legendary Guardian for her to look at him. Before her, floating in nothingness, was Auron. He was just as big, old, and grumpy as she had remembered.

"Hey mister," Rikku said to the image, watching him closely for any movement that it might make. Of course, as she had expected, the image of Auron did not move. She knew that it was only the creepy pyreflies projecting the image she had conjured in her mind, but she had to try to get him to listen. If Tidus could communicate through whistles and silly little methods to Yunie, then Auron could at least grunt…or something!

"Um… I see you haven't changed," she continued smoothly, putting an unsure hand on her head. "So, anyway, we need your help again! Yunie is in danger, and the rest of the Guardians can't help us protect her… They're all so busy with screaming babies and dirty diapers…" Rikku suddenly laughed to herself, thinking of Vidina. "You should see Lulu and Wakka's little bundle of trouble – he's so cute! Wait…" She looked straight into the unmoving eyes of the image, hands on her hips. "Why am I talking like that? You would even listen to that if you were still alive!"

She shook her head and began again. "You see, we're in a tough spot. Remember that promise you made to High Summoner Braska and that one guy with the scars, Tidus's dad…Gegt? …Jent? …Crembt? It was Crembt, wasn't it?" She sighed. "Never mind. So, you remember, don't you? Well, they need you to do that thing you do best and start protecting them…and stuff! You have to wake up. You're the best Guardian, and she'll listen to you better!"

The girl became silent and stood still, watching the image expectantly. Nothing happened. She furrowed her brows and stomped her foot in anger.

. . .

. . .

Yuna had not remembered the Farplane being this confusing before. She remembered these very stone pathways and chips of large, flat rock broken off, but there were also many other stone paths that branched out all around that lead to holes in the floors of other temples. She could only see just the one path – the very path she now traveled aimlessly.

As she reached a wide, flat surface at the bottom of the broken path, she looked around at the pyreflies, deciding then and there that she would try and get them to show her Brother, if he was in fact dead. Yuna closed her bi-colored eyes, but before she could even think, a soft, faint sound drifted eerily through the air, as though it were the wind itself attempting to speak with her. Her eyes shot open with a start, and she looked all around the area, straining to listen to see if the strange sound would come back to her. There it was again – a faint whisper, a gentle breath. _What is that_, she wondered?

The strange sound faded, and Yuna stood straight to look about with confusion. The sound almost sounded like a ghost, or a forlorn spirit, attempting to speak with her. Suddenly, she wondered if it could be Brother trying to warn her of danger, or even her father looking out for her. She concentrated on seeing her strange, half crazed cousin, hoping against hope that he would not appear, and when she looked around, there was nothing. With a sigh, Yuna nodded to herself. "I have to at least find out if that sound was my father…" The young woman immediately began to picture High Summoner Braska in her mind, and as the lids of her eyes slowly slid back to reveal a calm, serene image of her father clad in his summoner robes, a few gasps were heard to her right.

In an instant, her guns were drawn, and Yuna stared down at three Al Bhed men. They seemed to be confused, if not a little alarmed, but it was not brought on by seeing the ex-summoner. It was because she had seen _them_.

"Who are you, and what do you want with me?" Yuna demanded sternly, both eyes scanning the men for anything suspicious. They all seemed to be armored and were with various weapons.

"Uh… Lady Yuna?" the tallest of them spoke, cocking his head to the side. The alarming looks in his two companions' eyes seemed to fade into a false concern as he spoke. "We were not expecting to find you here!"

"Answer my questions," the young woman replied, bringing both of her pistols to aim directly at his head.

"We were just here to see our mum," the one to the right of the first to speak replied hastily. "We don't want anything from you, swear."

Yuna thought this over for a moment. _Do they really think I'm that slow?_ She glared at all of them. "If you don't begin giving me answers, then I'll just have to start persuading you!"

All three men seemed to tense up in alarm now. It was not often that anyone got the chance to see Lady Yuna making threats. As the all exchanged worried looks to each other, the ex-summoner could almost see their thoughts, they were so obvious. They were probably thinking_, "If she could take down Sin permanently and destroy that thing beneath Bevelle, then she would probably have no problem dusting us off..."_

"Eh, Lady Yuna… Uh, well… You see, it wasn't our idea to kidnap you!" the last one finally blurted, and his two coworkers immediately rewarded him with hard kicks to the shins.

The tallest one stepped forward one step and grunted. "Get her!"

. . .

. . .

Rikku was getting nowhere with speaking to Auron's image. She had tried everything in the book that she could think of to get him to budge or move, from bribing, which she was extremely good at, to insulting, which was even easier for her.

"Well, then, I guess you agree, since you're not disagreeing, hmm?" The blonde stood her ground, staring down the image with narrowed eyes. "I guess you agree to be a Guardian again! Okay, I'll just go over here unless you tell me you object…" Rikku hurried a few feet away, looking back at Auron's figure to see if he had moved. He hadn't.

With a sigh, she trudged back over to him, her fists balled at her sides. "Fine, whatever, we don't _need_ your stupid help anyway!"

Her temper was all but lost, her mind was tired, and her stomach was beginning to rumble. She looked down at the various colors of flowers beneath her feet, then back to the image with a forced expression of innocence. "Oh my, I'm so hungry… I hope these flowers aren't poisonous!" With one swipe, she ripped up a handful of tulips and daisies, along with other species that she couldn't remember the names of, and bit into them with exaggeration. "Mmm, amazing!"

The flowers, though pretty, had no taste, and when she swallowed them, they didn't even touch her stomach, as if they just disappeared when they passed her throat. She tried not to let her aggravation show as she looked up at Auron. "Oh my, my tummy doesn't feel yummy at all! I think they really _were_ poisonous, Auron!"

Finally, in the best imitation of pain that she could muster, Rikku grabbed at her stomach and hunched over, moaning and coughing. "Help me, I'm going to die!" she cried out to the image, throwing an arm up at him for added effect. "You're the only one here that can save me!" With one last croak, she fell limply to the ground and laid there with eyes closed. A few moments passed, and the only sound heard were the hums and sparkles of the pyreflies.

With a groan of defeat, Rikku stood and glared at Auron's image. "You never were any fun, anyway, meanie…"

Suddenly, her entire body froze, as though her blood instantly stopped and her heart fell asleep, as a foreign sound reached her ears. It sounded like a breath of air, like the wind itself were alive and breathing, but if it was a voice, she could not recognize it. _Did Auron do that…?_

Slowly, she looked up and into the eyes of the samurai warrior clad in red. "…Auron…?"

There it was again – the whispering sound! Rikku jumped back, her bottom lip now trembling slightly as she waited for the image of him to move. "Oh no…is that your ghost?"

When more of the strange, wispy breaths were heard, the Al Bhed girl nearly panicked. "It's Auron! He's come back to haunt me!" She stared at the image in fear now, expecting to see him suddenly twitch, and then the sounds of distorted shooting ruptured the air. Rikku bent down, covering her ears and looking all around for any sign of ghosts with guns until she realized that the sound did not belong to any ghost. It was loud, rumbling, and unnatural sounding, but it had to be gun shots from a real gun. It had to be Yuna.


	8. The Naked Truth

_(Warning: This chapter features Tidus being a little OOC. It's all in good fun, though!)_

**Chapter 8  
The Naked Truth**

Yuna flipped out of the way of the attack, which just narrowly missed her foot as she escaped the shot. She landed on her feet gracefully, throwing her arms forward to begin a series of quick, rapid shots at the tallest Al Bhed before her. As with any ranged profession, the trick to success was in staying clear of the enemy's reach, but the problem was that the three men she now stood off against were also of a ranged class. Dodging their melee attacks was easy, but dodging their counter shots and powerful grenades was becoming increasingly difficult.

With a feminine grunt, she sprung backward once more as an S-bomb just barely missed her arm, landing with a short explosion at the rim of the platform. Another quick potshot was released from her left pistol as she focused her attention on dodging the attacks from the Al Bhed in the back with a sniper rifle. If she didn't get help soon, she would be done for.

"Frag out!" the tallest Al Bhed called, pulling the pin on one of the smaller grenades and tossing it at Yuna. The ex-summoner was not as lucky as last time, and even though she had dodged the attack, it landed very close by her and exploded loudly. She grimaced glanced at her leg, which now pulsed with pain, but quickly ignored it as the third man in the party, the one whom hadn't spoken yet, looked directly at her as he reloaded his rocket launcher. His hair was black, dyed blue at the tips, and on the corner of his Al Bhed jumpsuit, Yuna could just barely see the name "Tran" written sloppily on a name tag. He steadied himself, aimed, and fired. The gunner leaped to the side, wincing as the high pitched, whizzing sound of the rocket arched toward her, but it missed, thankfully, and barely damaged her. As everyone reloaded, she popped an x-potion and began to shoot quick, rapid shots, all aimed directly for Tran.

Eventually, Yuna was able to bring him down pretty hard, but his two companions were already uncorking potions for their leader. She decided that she would need something heavier than her two pistols, and immediately switched to her Dark Knight dress sphere. Everything seemed to stop and silence passed through the three men as they watched Yuna's clothing suddenly melt away, followed by a different suit materializing onto her.

She stood before them, her sword comfortable in the weight of her hands, but noticed that the three men were no longer moving. They all shared the same look – big, round, frozen eyes and dropped jaws.

"Dude…we just saw the High Summoner…_naked_!" the one with the sniper rifle cried out in disbelief. The change of dress spheres had only been a millisecond, but the three could not deny what they had seen.

. . .

. . .

Rikku was now too afraid to make fun of Auron ever again. She finally realized that the strange, whispering breaths did not belong to the Legendary Guardian, but instead were the voices of Yuna and someone else. Do to the way sound waves carried in the Farplane, they usually came out distorted and fragmented when shot over long distances. With this knowledge, the blonde immediately took off the earpiece to her hidden headset and began to pry it apart with her fingers. All she had to do was change the wiring in the receiver to accept the Farplane's strange frequency. Where Shinra was good at creating things, Rikku was good at modifying them, and to her utter delight, the change in the earpiece went smoothly.

Almost as soon as she placed the modified device to her ear, the sounds of loud, frantic battle erupted through the headset. All around her, the sound resembled loud, rolling thunder clapping over and under itself. Within the earpiece, the unmistakable shots of Yuna's pistols could be heard loud and clear.

"Yunie!" Rikku cried out, her face twisting in anxiety. She listened closely, also picking up the sounds of explosions in between her cousin's shooting. The teen flinched as she heard someone, a male's voice, suddenly cry _"Frag out!"_ followed by another short explosion.

"I can't believe that Tidus can come back for Yunie to be with her, but you can't even show that you care anymore," Rikku spat at the image of Auron. She walked away from it, watching the pyreflies slowly disperse with the fading image, and then float innocently away.

Out of the corner of her swirling, green eyes, Rikku stopped to see a sudden flash of someone far out in the darkness. She peered further, squinting, and gasped as she saw the figure again. She cried out in joy as Tidus's form became clearer, and with it, the area around him.

"Tidus! Over here, Tidus!" she cried out, waving her arms frantically. He seemed to be oblivious to her calls, but also seemed to respond with curiosity to the sound of her voice. Well, technically, he wouldn't know it was her voice, due to the distortion, but Rikku could tell that he seemed to almost think that he heard his name being called.

It seemed that the more the Al Bhed watched him, completely focused, the more the area around him began to show. He seemed to be walking along a long, floating stone path. She called for him again, this time much louder, and waited for his response. Tidus actually flinched and looked about quickly, and when he cried something back, putting his hands to his mouth to amplify his voice, Rikku quickly brought the earpiece to her ear with a joyous gasp.

After a moment or two, she began to frown at the clarity of what he had answered. He was calling for Yuna. With a grumble, Rikku brought her own slender hands to the sides of her mouth and began to yell back at him. "Doesn't anyone worry about me anymore?!"

The blonde thief shook her head and looked to her side, where a stone path lead off of the flowery platform and seemed to lead to the Blitzball star. As she left, she watched the area around the platform begin to bloom, the nothingness around it slowly transforming into white clouds and deep, bright blue skies. It was truly an awe inspiring sight to see, but still creepy to her in its own way. As her mind drifted to questions, mostly as to why the darkness was even there when it wasn't like this before during the last time she had been there, she left the scene behind her and ascended up the stone path, hoping that it would also lead her to Yuna.

. . .

. . .

By the time Tidus was just about to give up in his search, the sight of Rikku suddenly jump started his will. He had been walking on the same long, stone path for what seemed like forever, and part of him suspected that he was going in circles and hadn't moved closer to either of the girls he had came in with from the beginning. The small, peppy little Al Bhed girl was a sight to see, and they high-fived each other as she finally caught up to him.

"Have you seen Yuna?" he asked her, his eyes full of concern. "I kept hearing these strange sounds…but I couldn't find either of you."

"Yeah, I know – don't worry! I got it all figured out," Rikku told him confidently, which in turn worried him deeply. Whenever Rikku said that she had something figured out, it usually meant that it would end up disasterifically.

"What do you mean, you have it all figured out?"

"Just trust me!" she exclaimed with a pout. "We'll find her and save her. It's up to you and me, because no one else is going to be a Guardian for her now. We'll be…YRT!"

"…Why are tea?" Tidus scratched his head.

"No, YRT – YuRiTi. Yuna, Rikku, Tidus!" As his mouth formed the shape of an "o", Rikku slapped a hand to her head and sighed. "C'mon, we don't have much time!"

As she grabbed Tidus by the wrist and began to pull him forward, the warrior finally allowed himself to be lead. "So, you know where she is?" he asked, noticing that the black nothingness in the air around them was slowly beginning to fade away.

"No, but we will follow her voice," Rikku replied quickly, handing him her headset. Tidus accepted the device and placed the receiver to his ear. He waited for something to happen, anything, but there was silence. Then, without warning, a voice suddenly shot through the earpiece. "_Dude… We just saw the High Summoner…naked!"_

"What?!"

Rikku spun around to face him in alarm. The strange, faint breaths were in the air, so she knew that something was said, and judging by the look of horror on the young man's face, he had just heard something bad. "Is she okay? Is she alive?"

"She's naked!" Tidus cried out in shock. Rikku's eyes widened as she put a hand over her mouth in disbelieve. "This isn't exactly fair – she's naked, _away_ from me, with _other men!_"

"That can't be right… I'm sure she's fighting them."

"Yeah, sure. _Fighting_ them." Tidus placed a hand to the back of his neck, his voice breaking. He was obviously upset.

"Hey, hey!" Rikku reached around and patted him on the shoulder. "You know she loves you and _only_ you! She wouldn't be getting naked if it weren't for a good reason, ya know?"

"What good reason is there to be naked?" he shot back, letting his head drop.

"Well…plenty!" The Al Bhed girl raced in front of him, walking backward while facing him. "For one, she could be itchy."

"Yeah, _itchy_. What a clever metaphor," he grumbled sarcastically.

"No, you don't understand. It really, really, _really_ bites when you're itchy!"

"I'm sure those guys that she's _fighting_ are _biting_ her _itch_ now as we speak."

Rikku suddenly slapped him across the face, to which he slowly turned to her with a look of surprise. "_Listen _to me! Sometimes fiends can cast a curse on you to make you itchy – you can't cast spells, raise your weapon, or even chant when you're itchy, and you have to change dress spheres for it to go away!" She sighed heavily, crossing her arms and turning back around to face the path. Trying to get Tidus to understand something was like trying to teach Gippal to be satisfied with one girl…which was the equivalent of trying to teach a chocobo to pilot an airship.

When she had succeeded in hushing him, Rikku lead the way down the path, which finally split into a few more. "Give me the headset," she told Tidus, who obeyed, and then she put it to her ear. There were still shots being fired, but she still couldn't tell from which way the ruckus was coming from. Finally, the Al Bhed girl quietly preformed an ancient chant, passed down to her from her great great grand-somethings, all the way through her family tree to her. They called it aaho saaho seho sua, or in English, eeny meeny miny moe.

"Which way now?" the Blitzball boy asked, surveying each path with speculation.

Once Rikku had finished the ancient chant, she opened her eyes and pointed confidently to the leftmost path. "That way."

Sure enough, it seemed to be the right path. Tidus was amazed by this, for it was rare that the Al Bhed could tell left from right, but, then again, sometimes he couldn't, either. They quickened their pace now as the sounds of battle began to straighten out and become clearer, a sure sign that they had almost reached her, and all of a sudden a cry of defeat was heard. It was Yuna.

Both Rikku and Tidus broke into a run now, not caring if they tripped and fell off of the edge of the path to their deaths. When they reached the platform where the battle had taken place, Rikku gasped. Three Al Bhed men, each of them dirty and beaten up a bit, were dragging the unconscious form of the ex-summoner away. With a set brow, the blonde charged forward, her red daggers ready, but stopped, slack-jawed, when she saw the naked form of Tidus. She cried out in disgust and turned away, almost tripping off of the edge of the path.

When Tidus made it to the platform, all three men froze and shared looks of disgust. The Blitzball star withdrew his watery sword, a gift from Wakka long ago, and stood in a ready stance. "You like that?!" he cried out, charging for them.

Rikku wanted to help, but the sight of Tidus's bear butt shining in the low light on the platform made her stomach turn and flip violently. He was like a brother to her, and the sight was not something she wanted to see. Quickly, she picked up the clothing that he had left behind and tried not to look at him while she ran forward onto the platform.

"What are you doing?" the one named Tran cried out to his two stumped and frightened men. "Attack him!" He pushed them forward roughly, and, with his hands firmly gripping Yuna's arms, he began to drag the unconscious girl away from them.

With a scowl (which was hard for Rikku to do, for she always ended up looking like a little squirrel that was about to fight over a peanut, which is always cute to see), Rikku rushed for the blue tipped spiky one, her only thought now on saving her cousin.

"Stop the girl!" Tran commanded. He wasn't stupid. His eyes were now on Rikku, and if she had not been so busy focusing on him, she would have seen the L-bomb coming at her from the side. It hit her dead in the middle of her chest, and Rikku's body was thrown back, flipping and tumbling. She had been hit critically by the preemptive attack. One of her daggers had been knocked from her grip, but she still had the other, so she held it up in front of her blindly while she scrambled for a potion.

"You take Mr. Happy – I'll get the little one," one of the two men fighting Tidus announced. The other one grunted, but provided cover as his companion backed away from the fight and loaded his sniper rifle.

With a smile of hope, Rikku withdrew a small healing potion from her pouch. As she brought it to her lips, the sniper placed a well aimed shot for her hand. The round hit the very edge of the potion, shattering it and recalling the girl's hand.

"Owie!" she cried out, bringing her hand to her chest with a wince. "That was my last potion, you big meanie!" Though she couldn't see very well, Rikku could just barely make out the blurry figure of the lone sniper on the edge of the platform opposite of her. She reached for her garment grid, randomly picking whatever dress sphere was closest to her Thief, and changed her outfit before any shots could be fired at her again.

She stood unsteadily, feeling the weight of a large, heavy sword in her hand and suddenly feeling comforted by it. SOS Critical immediately came into play, and with a renewed sense of certainty and fearlessness, Rikku swiftly came forward, crying out "Zantetsu!"

Tidus downed the man before him, his body turning into little pyreflies, then turned around in alarm to his Al Bhed companion and dropped his jaw. "Auron?!"

Rikku seemed not to hear him, and brought her sword down on the sniper so hard that he was instantly defeated. As his body began to break into the little spheres of multicolored light to join the other pyreflies, she pivoted and charged calmly for the Al Bhed dragging Yuna away.

"Boss, we have a problem," Tran called frantically into his headset. His face suddenly lost all color as Rikku stormed up on him, and he tried one more time to contact his employer in a pitiful whimper. "Boss, where are you? BOSS?!"

It felt as though Rikku wasn't even in control of her body anymore, as though she were trapped inside a shell of herself, watching as the events unfolded before her. The heavy sword in her hand came down on the man's head, and before she could even blink, pyreflies were already rising from his body. From her chest, a deep grunt was made as her body bent down to Yuna and picked her up effortlessly, even with her dark blue, bulky armor in the way. Rikku took her to Tidus, whom was still completely naked and in shock, and laid her carefully before him. She noticed that the sleeve of her Samurai dress sphere robe was a familiar crimson color, instead of the deep orange hue that it normally had.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence and stillness, Rikku felt something big suddenly pull away from her, as though part of her were leaving, and the injury she had sustained before now became noticeably painful again. She fell to one knee, holding onto her sword for dear life, and looked up before her with a gasp. There he stood, the Legendary Guardian himself, staring down at Rikku in is all-too-familiar gruff and impassive expression. He closed his eyes and bowed his head to her, a notion of respect that she could not recall him ever showing for her, and then turned to Tidus with the same inexpressive glance that he always had. "Put your clothes on…"

And then, he dispersed quietly, his one eye closed and a peaceful look splayed across his rugged features. He was gone.


	9. Zanarkand Showdown

**Chapter 9  
Zanarkand Showdown**

Since she had no more healing potions of any type on her, Rikku was forced to take Yuna's garment grid and replace one of her dress spheres with the White Mage dress sphere, as well as being sure to swipe back her Trainer dress sphere. She used Curaga on everyone, making sure that no wounds were left unhealed and no ailments left behind by the fight, and finally changed back to her comfortable and most favorite outfit.

When Yuna slowly opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Rikku changing to her Thief dress sphere, and her loving boyfriend struggling to get his strange uneven-legged shorts on. It didn't look right, to say the least, and a burst of light laughter jumped from her without warning. "What happened, you two?"

"Yunie!" The Al Bhed girl practically pounced onto her cousin, embracing her tightly. "They almost got you, but we saved you! Er, Auron saved you!"

"Sir Auron…? What do you mean?" she asked, now sitting up to look around. The darkness that had encircled the platform and most of the Farplane itself was now completely gone, and the bright, white clouds drifted high above them happily, as though to bring the three comfort. The beautiful, ever-breathtaking waterfalls circled them, pyreflies dancing happily around them with their strange, eerily beautiful hums and sparkles.

"Uh, well…" Rikku stood still for a moment and scratched her head. "He sort of came out of me, I think," she replied to Yuna.

"What?" The ex-summoner stifled a giggle. "Came…out of you?"

"Oh, not like that!" the thief cried. "I mean, his spirit, or something, just…yeah. Tidus, you tell her!" Rikku stepped back, knowing that her confusing rush of sentences would only make matters worse. Of course, Rikku would scold herself later for asking him to continue for her, but hadn't stopped to fully think about that at the moment.

Tidus, with one boot unlaced and the other not even on yet, looked up with a small pout. "You were naked."

Yuna almost couldn't believe her ears. "…What?"

"I heard one of those guys say you were naked," he replied, now feeling foolish.

"…Is that why you stripped down?" Rikku had pulled out her headset and was fiddling with its insides when she looked up at him with sudden realization. "It is, isn't it?"

"…Maybe, but I only did it because Yuna was doing it!"

The laughter that erupted from the lonely little platform was priceless. Tidus, though a little embarrassed now, slowly caved in and began to laugh with the two girls. Even after everyone recovered and gained their composure, Rikku still had a case of the giggles, and continued to burst into laughter uncontrollably.

Yuna changed back into her Gunner dress sphere, which, of course, was her personal favorite, while Tidus finished putting on his other boot. The hyper little Al Bhed was now inspecting the three men they had faced, and a particularly interesting item had caught her eye. While she walked over to the one named Tran to observe the foreign item further, Yuna, whom was deep in thought, now spoke up. The mention of Auron's spirit coming out of Rikku while she had been unconscious was beginning to bother her.

"Do you think he no longer feels at peace?" the ex-summoner asked aloud, mostly to herself. When she received puzzled looks from both of the blonds, she added quickly, "I mean Sir Auron. Do you think that he is…being bothered by something?"

"Why, what do you mean?" Tidus replied.

"Well, when I was using the Songstress dress sphere and Lenne began to come out…it was because of her unrest. Because she wanted Shuyin to be with her and at peace." Yuna walked slowly over to her cousin, whom had now forgotten about the strange, mechanical object in her hand so that she could fully listen to what the brunette was saying. "You were wearing the Samurai sphere when I woke up, right?"

"Yeah, I was," Rikku replied, looking down in surprise. "Oh no, what if Auron needs our help?"

"Yes, that was my thought, exactly," Yuna said, clasping her hands together. "Why else would his spirit come out of your dress sphere when it did?"

"Looked more like he was helping us," Tidus mentioned, joining the two girls with his hands on his hips. "Maybe he just wanted to help you?"

Yuna thought back to the time she was last in the Farplane, when she and the Gullwings were going after Vegnagun. Auron's voice came to her, filling the air and her mind, and encouraged her onward repeatedly until she and her best of friends had won. Could he have come back again to do his duty to her and Tidus once more, to protect them from harm? "You know what…? I think you may be right."

"Yeah, I'll agree on that," Rikku added with a nod. Suddenly, her spiraling eyes widened as she remembered insulting him in the field of flowers. "Oh no…"

"What's wrong, Rikku?" Yuna asked, kneeling down in front of her cousin with concern.

"Well, I, um…" The Al Bhed twirled her fingers about, biting her lip in shame. "I kinda sorta…called Auron a…meanie…"

"That's nothing new," Tidus said with a short laugh, followed by a smile from Yuna.

"But that's not all," Rikku added, her face now turning a light shade of pink. "I, um… I think I may have called him…the worst Guardian in the world…" When the two before her gasped, she jumped up and held her hands out in defense. "It's not what ya think! I, um, was trying to get him to be a Guardian again, since Lulu and Wakka are too busy gettin' it on and Kimahri's busy with ruling his race and stuff, but he didn't move or anything…so I got a little mad!" With her head down, Rikku dug the tip of her shoe into the hard, stone surface beneath her. "I'm sorry…"

Yuna giggled a bit and put a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "Actually, I bet he did come out to help me, and not to get revenge on you for saying those things."

Tidus chipped in, agreeing with her. "Yeah, I mean, look at all the things I've done to annoy him, and he still never budged." He followed his statement with a laugh, causing Rikku to cheer up a little.

Before they could dwell on it further, the ex-summoner noted the strange device in Rikku's hand and pointed at it. "What is that?"

"Well, I don't really know yet… But I have a feeling that whatever it is, it's gonna be big!"

"Let's get outta this place before we see more of these guys," Tidus suggested, and the two girls did not object.

After pocketing the sphere-sized, metal-encased device, Rikku, Yuna, and Tidus walked to the nearest exit, a hole in the ground that was much like the one in Djose, and helped each other up to it and out of the Farplane. They did not know where it would lead, but decided that they could always call on the Celsius to come and pick them up. Almost as soon as they made it up and out of the hole, landing onto the very place they had fought and defeated Yunalesca, Buddy and Cid's voices could be heard through the headsets.

"Yuna, Rikku?!" Both of them would not stop crying out their names, along with other indistinguishable words, so it was hard to tell what else they had said.

With a wince, Yuna answered. "It's okay, we're okay! We're all here." She smiled as she looked back at Rikku and Tidus.

"What was going on down there? We lost signal when you all went in!" Buddy cried out.

"You know, Farplane fun times, always ruining things!" Rikku replied with a giggle. "So, think you can come pick us up?"

"Yeah, but we don't see you," Cid cried back, a bit of irritation in his voice. "Where the hell _are_ you three?"

"Hmm… Well, if I had to guess," Rikku replied, looking about their surroundings, "I would say we're in Zanarkand."

"…Zanarkand?!"

"Hey, calm down Pops!" she cried back, holding the earpiece away from her ear to keep it from rupturing at the volume of his tone. "We'll wait here for ya!"

After a bit of grumbling from Cid, Buddy finally replied back to them. "Setting course for Zanarkand Ruins, hold on tight."

Rikku cheered, looking back to both of her friends with a grin. "Okay, we'll wait! And we didn't see Brother down there, so those guys really were just calling our bluff!" Relief seemed to spread quickly, even through Yuna and Tidus, whom had already known this. "Oh yeah," the teen added, rummaging in her pouch for the strange metal device. "We found something…weird. On one of the guys we fought. Oh, and Yuna almost got kidnapped again!"

Cid sighed to himself, but it came through the earpiece without his knowledge of it and the two cousins exchanged glances. "You're okay now though, Yuna?"

"Yep!" the brunette replied cheerfully. "Let's just say that…I have good friends to help me."

An odd static shot through the transmission, and then a familiar voice came through that made nearly everyone smile. "Hey… Heard someone needed a lift."

"Paine!" Yuna and Rikku cried together, giving each other a high five.

"What's going on?" Tidus asked, his hands behind his head. "You know, you guys should really get me one of those things so I can hear what's going on."

Yuna grinned and came closer to him, holding out the earpiece so that they could listen together. Rikku shook her head with a grin. "Love bunnies!"

"What was that?" Paine asked through the headset, puzzled.

"Erm, nothing!" the Al Bhed quickly replied. "So, um, you're coming to pick us up?"

"Of course," the ex-Gullwing said. "And, we're closer to you than Cid is." Quickly, and with a hidden excitement, she added, "Oh, and we have our own airship now…"

Everyone but Cid gasped, and then Buddy cut in to speak with her. "Oh, really? What make?"

"32 MK 2 model," Paine replied with a proud voice. "Titan."

Rikku's jaw dropped. A Titan model! It was by far the sturdiest airship, basically a tank with wings, but its weight did make it a bit slower than the Celsius. "I can't wait to see it!" she cried out, jumping from foot to foot with anticipation.

"We're close," Paine announced to them. "Make your way outside, we shouldn't be long."

"Alrighty!" With the metal device in hand, Rikku hurried forward to the stairs that led down and out of the area, but stopped when she realized that only Tidus had followed her. They both exchanged confused looks, then went back. Yuna hadn't moved from her position, and was now looking around the area with a deep pang of nostalgia in her eyes.

Rikku was touched by it, and smiled as she looked to Tidus. The look on his face was even softer, a strong pull that he had only for the brunette before him that seemed to relax his features to show a wonderful feeling that could not be named. The Al Bhed girl suddenly felt left out.

"We battled her here," Yuna whispered, her arms out as she turned around to look at the hole in the ground. "We broke the cycle of Sin, and brought the Eternal Calm…and it all began right here…"

"No, Yuna," the Blitzball star replied with a smile, walking over to her with his hands out. "You broke the cycle and brought the Eternal Calm."

Again, the fluffy moment was nearly suffocating to Rikku, and more than anything, she wanted to whip out a record sphere and start catching everything that was happening. But she had a job to do. A serious, difficult job. One that would require her full attention, strength, and determination. A job that would make Auron nod respectfully to her again, so that she could feel like she was actually doing something right for once. Perhaps she could even get him to smile? Rikku nearly laughed at this thought as she came up to her two friends and nudged them both with her elbows to get their attention. "Hey, get a room you two!"

"Haha, very funny Wakka," Tidus replied with a laugh, remembering those very words when he had come back to Spira…back to Yuna. Wakka was always full of smart comments like that, but they were always in good fun.

"We should go. I wouldn't want to keep Paine waiting for too long," Yuna replied. Together, the three made their way down the steps and out of the area. Double doors led them through into a circular room – the same style room that all of the temples shared in design and elegance. Of course, Zanarkand was no longer a place of elegance, but there were signs to lead others into seeing that it used to be.

They traveled quickly across the room, passing several happy wild monkeys and a few opened chests, which Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were all guilty of looting, and entered the Chamber of the Fayth. Even more pairs of monkeys were found here, and the three had to carefully walk through them all without stepping on them. Thanks to the efforts of YRP nearly a year before, the wild monkeys made their home in the ruins, and now had all multiplied entirely. It was amazing to see so many of them scurrying about.

Everyone continued forward, stopping at a rising platform that would lead them up and out of the chamber, and a soft sound, one that resembled a shoe scuffing the floor, was heard from above them. The three stopped, looking up curiously, and then looked to each other. "Did you guys hear that?"

Rikku's question was needless, but the other two answered, nodding. "I think someone might be here, too," Tidus replied quietly.

"Do you think it could be them?" Yuna whispered. "The kidnappers from the Farplane?"

Everyone shrugged, but all seemed to suspect that it really could be the rogue Al Bhed, hired by the unknown enemy to steal Yuna from them. Rikku stepped closer to her cousin, as though to keep her safe from whatever may come, and Tidus stepped in front of her protectively. "We can take 'em… Let's go," he quietly replied. Everyone stepped carefully onto the platform.

Unfortunately, the platform was not only old and creaky, but rusted and almost unusable now from its long life and natural wear and tear. It rose noisily to the top, exposing them to Zanarkand's own Cloister of Trials, as well as a lone Al Bhed in the corner. His weapon, a tricked out rifle, was already aimed for them as they rose.

"Uh… Hiya!" Rikku said nervously, waving a timid hand. "Paah fyedehk muhk? (been waiting long)?"

With a growl, the Al Bhed man in the corner pulled the trigger. All three immediately jumped separate ways, narrowly avoiding the bullet, but the enemy was faster than what they had hoped for. A well placed round hit Tidus in the thigh, sending him to his side in a cry of pain. He quickly recovered, though, and ignored his pain for now. He had to protect Yuna, and he didn't care how many times he would get hit. As long as she was safe.

Rikku looked at her garment grid, remembering that she had not yet given the White Mage dress sphere back to her cousin, and then looked at the metal device in her hand. She decided that she would hang onto it as long as she could, in case their adversary wanted it back, and she placed it behind her on the ground before switching dress spheres.

Yuna, seeing that Rikku had decided to be the healer for her and her lifemate, immediately aimed for the Al Bhed man and began emptying everything she had in her pistols into his chest and head. With the thick helm and tough armor he wore, her bullets barely did anything, and with a frown she pulled out her garment grid and prepared to change back into old faithful – the Dark Knight dress sphere.

Tidus lunged forward for the rifleman, his sword already unsheathed and glistening from the sparkling liquid within the blade. As all of the liquid within rushed to the tip of the blade, it became a little heavier and his swing quickened, causing his attack to come down harder. The victim of the swipe cried out, noticeably injured, and countered back with a hard kick of his boot into the blond's chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and making him stagger back a bit. Right before the Al Bhed rifleman tipped his gun up and shot Tidus pointblank, Rikku instantly began casting like mad, gripping her staff tightly while focusing on a prayer to give a quick boost in everyone's health, then changing to stack Protect and Shell on everyone.

Yuna charged forward, now clad in the dull, midnight blue armor that covered her entirely, and quickly gave the enemy a taste of Darkness. Even though such an attack harmed her a bit, taking some of her life force and converting it into a harmful attack that spread outward in a far-reaching radius, Rikku's quick heals kept her on her feet and ready to go again. With her sword now held before her, she focused her mind on the dark energies and flung them forward to the lone foe, a nifty spell that most liked to call Death. It failed, but the ex-summoner wasted no time in charging for another round of Darkness.

All the while, Tidus fought heavily, slashing and jumping back, slashing and jumping back, until he had accumulated enough energy to perform one of his most damaging overdrive abilities. Rikku did not stop casting for the life of her, and as the Blitzball star went into his special attack, she stopped to bring out an ether potion. The soft, blue liquid spread quickly through her as she consumed it, and before she could start casting again, the enemy aimed his sights dead on her and shot a magic round through her protective barriers. Though it didn't kill her outright, it sure did hurt her, and she fell to the ground with only her arms to support her.

"Owie…" Rikku closed her eyes, gritting her teeth, and when she stood to cast a heal on herself, she lost her footing and fell forward again, only this time knocking the spherical metal device over in the process.

Right as Tidus and Yuna joined together to finish their most powerful tag-team attack, everything suddenly went completely black around them, as though a light had been cut off. No one could see anyone, but they could see themselves very clearly, just like the effect that was happening in the Farplane. The sound of footsteps scurrying frantically echoed throughout the lonely room.

The black nothingness suddenly began to flicker, showing only a split second of where everyone stood, and then slowly began to fade out from each person's feet. The metal device, which seemed to have an odd button slightly protruding from its side, glowing a faint violet, gradually powered down with a fading whirl, and then became still and silent. The light was no longer there. Neither was the Al Bhed rifleman.

"Did you guys…see that?" Rikku asked, her eyes wide in amazement. When there was no response, she turned around and gasped. Tidus and Yuna were both knocked out, sprawled awkwardly on the ground. Judging by the way they were facing each other, the two somehow hit each other unconscious at the last second. The blonde immediately went to work reviving them and helping them to their feet.

"Where did he go?" Yuna asked, rubbing the side of her face.

"He ran…no thanks to me," Rikku replied in a small voice. Her pout was erased by forgiving smiles from the other two. "That round metal thingy – _that's_ what was causing that darkness in the Farplane."

Yuna gasped. "Then this is proof… It's proof that they knew we were down there."

"Proof that they already had everything planned out to try and kidnap you again," Tidus added with a nod.

"Just what is there obsession with kidnapping?" the Al Bhed girl asked with a confused shrug. "Do you have something they want, Yunie?"

"Not that I know of," her cousin replied.

"I could be because she's a High Summoner and all," Tidus chipped in, his hands behind his head. "That would be a big claim to fame there – saying that they kidnapped the one and only Yuna."

"Well…something just doesn't add up," the ex-summoner said softly, looking to the ground in thought. "Something isn't right about this whole thing…"

"C'mon," Rikku said, encouraging her with a pat on her shoulder. "We should try and catch up to that coward. If we could beat 'em down and take him in, we might be able to solve this mystery once and for all!"

"Yeah, I'm in!" Tidus cried out, and before Yuna could object, the two were practically dragging her out of the Cloister of Trials. The three ran the length of the corridor of the dome, jumping down the many steps here and there and avoiding obstacles and other old, broken down debris that littered the pathway, until they reached the interior of the dome – the largest and most challenging area to get through. Pyreflies floated softly by them everywhere, and Rikku swatted them away as Tidus pointed ahead. "That's him!"

Everyone's eyes fell on the Al Bhed man, whom was limping his way across odd trails created by broken roads and buildings laying across gaps and other such things. Tidus immediately equipped a Charm Bangle, which kept random fiends from bothering them, and all three headed on, the metal device cradled in Rikku's arm.

They followed the length of the broken roads, crossing old grates and long beams that laid perfectly over gaps and served well as ramps and shortcuts. Through a tunnel-like area, where an old road on top of them laid, as well as one beneath their feet, and then over a short path that lead to the outside of the dome. A crafty grenade greeted them as they exited, and Rikku immediately used Prayer for a short health boost. They all resumed their fighting stances, until a loud, thunderous crash shook the very ruins they stood on. Everyone, including the enemy, looked up above them, and surely enough, high up in the sky, two airships were engaging each other.

Rikku immediately recognized the Titan, as it was much rounder and thicker than the adversary ship. The brown and black paint job looked pretty much brand new, but now there were a few minor dents in it. Looking over across from the Titan, the enemy airship, now with a rather large dent in its pretty aqua and yellow colored side, was circling the large, brown airship before it. She wasn't sure, but Rikku guessed that it was a 119 MK 5 – Leviathan. Its build was most definitely for speed, not armor, and its thin, long tail-like stern allowed for pristine maneuverability. Almost drooling now, the Al Bhed girl had to force herself to look away. The familiar feeling of love suddenly crept into her heart, and she decided that if they could ever get a hold of that ship, she would claim it for her own.

"Rikku, look out!" Yuna cried from behind. The blonde looked before her in alarm as the Al Bhed man pulled the trigger, hitting her square in the chest. Rikku staggered backward and immediately focused on casting a heal for herself, but the foe was quicker. He reloaded, then aimed for her and took the shot. Yuna leaped in front of her cousin with her sword up, and came down with another Darkness attack as the bullet hit her in the arm. Rikku healed herself with a rueful laugh, completely thankful for Yuna's quick acting, and before she could prepare a few barriers for everyone, their opponent began limping backward. From the sky, the quick, slender Leviathan curved around and downward, headed for the fleeing Al Bhed man.

"Get back here!" Rikku cried angrily. Quickly, she switched to her Trainer dress sphere, and once Ghiki appeared, she pointed her finger toward the enemy. "Go, funky monkey - _go!_"

Everyone rushed forward to catch up with him. Even with his limp, the man was moving pretty quickly. Tidus was much faster than the two girls, so he began to pass them up as they charged forward, but the monkey had them all beaten. Dread began to take over Rikku as she realized that her monkey wouldn't be able to make it in time. The Leviathan stopped to hover close to the ground, and a rope was released for the Al Bhed escapee to grab a hold of. Just as Ghiki was almost on his heel, the rifleman snatched the rope and held on tightly, and the airship began to rise from the ground, leaving Tidus, Yuna, Rikku, and the monkey to watch in dismay as the enemies once again escaped. They were still no closer to solving the mystery than they were when they began.


End file.
